By the Riverside 



finding a hole to suit its nesting requirements, 

 while the number of Pied Wagtails and Tree 

 Sparrows that are safely housed in them is 

 astonishing. In some parts of the Cam, indeed, 

 it is hard to find a willow that has not one or 

 more nests of the Tree Sparrow, placed far down 

 in some hole or crevice. Few and far between 

 are the holes which will admit even a boy's hand, 

 and the five or six eggs generally remain undis- 

 turbed. Judging by the numbers successfully 

 reared there, it comes as no surprise to me to 

 hear that the Tree Sparrow is extending its range 

 in England, for as yet it is a decidedly local bird, 

 apart from the eastern counties. 



The casual observer would most likely mistake 

 it for a House Sparrow, but the bird lover at 

 once notices the difference. The Tree Sparrow is 

 a smaller and more elegant bird, having a uniform 

 chocolate brown crown, not ashy grey as the 

 House Sparrow, and further, both sexes have the 

 black patch on the throat, which distinguishes the 

 male from the female House Sparrow. 



Its nesting habits, as I have already hinted, are 

 different, and the nest itself is a much more 

 finished structure than the accumulation of straws 

 and feathers the House Sparrow calls its home. 

 Even the entrance hole and the tunnel leading to 

 the nest are sometimes neatly lined with hay, but 

 the proceeding generally leads to the discovery of 

 the nest. 



6l 



