THE HEDGE SPARROW. 581 



not cherish. There is, perhaps, no nest which is easier to be seen 

 or more accessible when discovered than that of the Hedge Spar- 

 row, and the consequence is, that the cuckoo's egg is oftener to be 

 found in the nest of the Hedge Sparrow than in that of any other 

 bird. This circumstance is certainly unfortunate to the Hedge 

 Sparrow, who is obliged to give up the whole of her nest to a sup- 

 posititious offspring, and to bestow upon a single intruder all the 

 care and attention which would otherwise have been lavished 

 upon the five rightful occupants. 



Besides the cats, rats, and weasels, there are direful feathered 

 foes, such as the shrike, which steals away the young and carries 

 them to its home, where it hangs them up in its natural larder, 

 and the magpie, which will sometimes work great havoc among 

 the young or eggs. Now and then the owl makes a meal of a 

 young bird, as I can testify from personal experience, and the 

 viper is always ready to glide up the stems of the shrubs amid 

 which the bird has built, to insert its baleful head into the nest, 

 and to swallow the callow young. 



Still, as the Hedge Sparrow generally produces two broods of 

 young in a year, and sometimes three, all her offspring are not 

 destroyed by these foes, and she may have the satisfaction of 

 rearing some of her own. The nest is nicely, substantially, but 

 not elegantly made, as, indeed, might be inferred from its lowly 

 position. Nests upon or near the ground are very seldom made 

 with much attention to elegance of architecture, the greatest 

 trimness of nest-building skill being displayed in those homes 

 which are placed upon lofty branches or suspended from slender 

 twigs. It is a rather large nest, and is made of moss, wool, hair, 

 and similar materials. As is generally the case with the group 

 of birds to which the Hedge Sparrow belongs, the eggs are five 

 in number, and, on an average, three young in each brood attain 

 maturity. 



