Tree Sparrow. 197 



of our birds of prey, for whose behoof they seem in great part to 

 have been provided. 



In France it is known as Le Moineau, doubtless on account of 

 its apparent cowl; in Germany, as Haus Sperling; and in 

 Sweden, as Grd-Spink ; in Italy, Passer o ; in Spain, Gorrion or 

 'little pig;' and in Portugal, Pardal, 'the gray bird/ as in 

 Sweden. 'Our word Sparrow' says Professor Skeat, 'means 

 " flutterer," from spar, " to quiver," or " flutter." ' 



Before I take leave of the House Sparrow, I would relate an 

 anecdote of that bird communicated to me by Mr. James Waylen, 

 of Devizes. In 1785, in the days of lofty head-dresses, some 

 ladies and gentlemen were drinking tea in a garden in the Close 

 at Salisbury, when a Sparrow perched on the head of one of the 

 ladies, and then disappeared ; till after some time it was dis- 

 covered to have made the ladies' head its resting-place, un- 

 perceived and unfelt by the owner. The philosophical Editor of 

 the Salisbury Journal conjectured that it must be some love- 

 stricken spirit ! 



81. TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus). 



In my former papers on the Ornithology of Wilts, I omitted 

 this species ; for at that time I did not feel sure of its presence 

 in the county. Subsequent observation has, however, enabled 

 me to add it to our list ; for I have myself seen it on more than 

 one occasion ; and others, both in North and South Wilts, have 

 recorded it from time to time. Still, though doubtless often 

 overlooked, it appears to me to be very local, and somewhat 

 capricious in its choice of abode. Nowhere, however, in Wilts is 

 it by any means common. In short, I believe it to be very 

 sparingly distributed over the Western Counties of England, 

 but little known in the neighbouring county of Somerset, and 

 scarcely if at all recognised in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.* 

 It is to be distinguished from the House Sparrow by its smaller 

 size, chocolate-coloured head, and triangular patch of black on the 



* Cecil Smith's ' Birds of Somerset,' p. 184. 



