FINCHES. 



39i 



large, untidy nest, composed of steins of grass and plant fibres, lined with hair, 

 feathers, and other materials. It lays two or three eggs in a clutch, white in 

 ground-colour, streaked and spotted with ash-grey and brown. The parents 

 wait assiduously upon the young, ami manifest the greatest distress if the safety 

 of their progeny be endangered. In autumn they gather into flocks, and some 

 migrate from their higher breeding-grounds. The flight of this bird is rapid 



ROCK-SPARROW, SPANISH SPARROW, TREE-SPARROW, AND HOUSE-SPARROW (J nat. size 



and well sustained : and the usual note a harsh chirrup. Although partial to fruit, 

 the rock-sparrow feeds principally upon insects during the summer months, 

 visiting the stubble-fields in autumn. Upon the approach of winter, rock- 

 sparrows often consort with other small birds, in the company of which they 

 frequent the roads and even villages. The general colour of the male is brown 

 above; the mantle and back being broadly streaked with black, and having a 

 whitish brown spot at the tip of the outer webs of the feathers; while the crown 



