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THE HEDGE SPARROW. 

 (Accentor modularis.) 



THIS is no vulgar little city arab, picking about in 

 untidy stables, in the refuse on the streets, and among 

 the droppings of horses. Does not its Latin name 

 rather proclaim it one of the aristocrats of bird life. Its 

 dress may be dull-coloured, but its form and its motions 

 are not inelegant, despite its familiar name of " Shuffle- 

 wings " and "Smokie," in deference to its characteristic 

 motion and its colouring. Head and nape are a bluish- 

 .grey, streaked with brown, back and wings are a 

 reddish-brown, streaked blackish ; the lower wing- 

 coverts are tipped with clayish colour, in bar-fashion, 

 underparts a dull white; the sides are marked with dark 

 streaks on a pale reddish-brown ground ; the bill brown, 

 the base being of a lighter shade ; the legs and feet are 

 yellow brown. Length 5.5 inches. The slate-grey on 

 the head and throat is not seen on the young birds, 

 which are browner and more spotted than the adults. 

 This is a friendly bird and very easily tamed, so that it 

 will often bring its mate to the kitchen door for food in 

 winter, and its song* is more melodious than many of 

 our singers. The nest is built of moss, bits of stick, 

 roots, and dry grass, in all kinds of hedges, or roadside 

 thickets. The eggs, four to six, greenish-blue without 

 spots and rough in texture. Many bird-lovers refuse to 

 call this bird by the plebian name of Sparrow, with them 

 it is always the Hedge Accentor. 



The food of this bird mainly consists of caterpillars, 

 eggs of insects, w 7 ood-lice, earwigs, chrysalids, small 

 seeds of weeds, house-refuse, etc. 



