SPARROWS. 23 



cause. He therefore placed a ladder, and, 011 

 mounting, found one of the young ones detained a 

 prisoner, by means of a string, or scrap of worsted, 

 which formed part of the nest, having become acci- 

 dentally twisted round its leg. Being thus disabled 

 from procuring its own living, it had been fed by the 

 continued exertions of the parents. 



An unfortunate Sparrow, who had also been made 

 prisoner in his own nest, met with a very different 

 fate, being actually killed, instead of preserved, by 

 the overzealous kind intentions of his mate. The 

 case occurred in the Spring of 1818, in Surrey. 

 The pair were in search of a place for building 

 their nest; and the male bird, finding a tempting 

 hole among the tiles of the roof, got into it; unfor- 

 tunately, he became entangled in the broken mortar, 

 and could not force his way back. The female saw 

 his situation, and after flying backwards several 

 times, twittering, and apparently in great distress, 

 attempted to pull him out. Several birds were 

 attracted by the accident, and came fluttering round, 

 but were beaten off by the hen Sparrow; she then 

 redoubled her own efforts to get him out, and seizing 

 his beak above the nostrils, with her own beak, pulled 

 it so hard, that she killed him. She did not appear, 

 however, aware of the mischief she had done, but 

 continued pulling at the dead body of the unfortunate 

 bird, with as much perseverance, as if it had been 

 alive. She was, at length, driven away by a person 

 who saw the whole transaction, and with some diffi- 

 culty extricated the dead bird. Its head was dread- 

 fully mangled, and the beak of the hen had evidently 

 penetrated the brain. About an hour afterwards, a 



