38 GRAMINIVOILE. 



some situations, multiply to such an extent as to be intoler- 

 able ; and were they not so incessant in the destruction of 

 those prolific pests, the cabbage-butterflies, it is doubtful 

 whether one plant of the tribe could be reared in the market- 

 gardens. The hunting of butterflies by sparrows trained for 

 the purpose, is said to be one of the royal sports in Persia, 

 and it accords well with what we are otherwise told of the 

 soft luxury of that land of roses and nightingales. 



The house-sparrow is rather more than six inches long, and 

 weighs about an ounce and a quarter. The male has the 

 bill, and a streak thence to the eye, dusky ; the gorget black, 

 more perfect and intense in the breeding season ; the sides 

 of the neck and flanks dull grey, and the feathers on the 

 upper part dusky, and relieved at the margins with reddish 

 brown. The female has the base of the bill pale, wants the black 

 markings, is duller brown on the upper part, and whitish 

 brown on the under. Both sexes have one bar across the 

 middle of the closed wing ; dingy white in the female, and 

 rather brighter in the male. Sparrows are voracious, and 

 withal energetic birds. They may be often seen holding 

 assemblies with a great deal of noise and clatter. There is 

 usually a dispute or quarrel in these cases ; and, true to a 

 very common if not an universal instinct of animals, the 

 crowd always help the strongest. There are few exceptions 

 to that law among gregarious animals, whether birds or not, 

 and something very similar to it may be traced among the 

 human race, when in that low state of society in which their 

 impulses and actions are chiefly animal, and mind comes 

 little into play. In matter, the law is, in fact, universal : 

 the tree throws off the withered leaf and the faded flower, in 

 order the better to preserve those parts that are vigorous ; 

 animal bodies, and animals in their instincts, do the same ; 

 and not sympathy for the weak and relief to the distressed 

 only, but that even-handed Justice which holds the balance 



