"The chicks were photographed just after they had fluttered out of the nest. 



THE HEDGE SPARROW 



T 



HIS gentle little bird in its 

 unobtrusive coat of brown 

 is almost as well known as 

 robin redbreast himself. 

 It frequents our gardens all 

 the year round, quietly 

 picking up crumbs, or what- 

 soever else it can find, in 

 the winter, and ridding them of noxious 

 pests in the summer. It may always be 

 known by the nervous shuffling of its 

 wings as it hops about. 



The male has a cheerful, though not 

 long-sustained, song, which I have on 

 several occasions heard him uttering as 

 late as ten o'clock at night, when 

 most feathered vocalists, saving per- 

 haps the nightingale and the garrulous 

 sedge warbler, are supposed to be 

 asleep. 



This species commences nesting opera- 

 tions as early as March, if the weather 

 happens to be mild and open, and con- 

 tinues breeding until June, or even later. 



As a matter of fact, the chicks figured 

 at the head of this chapter were photo- 

 graphed just after they had fluttered 

 out of the nest, on the last day of July. 

 At least two broods are reared in a 

 season, and I have known this to occur 

 in the same nest. 



The Hedge Sparrow builds in haw- 

 thorn and privet hedges, brambles, 

 nettles, and low bushes of almost every 

 kind, and sometimes it may even be 

 found in heather. The structure con- 

 sists of slender twigs, rootlets, bits of 

 dead grass and moss, with an inner 

 lining of wool, hair, and feathers. In 

 finishing off her nest the Hedge Accentor, 

 as some naturalists prefer to call the bird 

 on account of its slender bill, exercises 

 great pains, taking piece after piece of 

 material, placing it in position, and then 

 turning round and round in the struc- 

 ture, pressing her breast against its 

 inner walls, and thus rendering them 

 smooth and neat. 



