43' 

 NOTES ON THE TREE SPARROW. 



F. B. WHITLOCK. 



A ileiiborough. 



Judging from the perusal of the avifaunas of the North of England 

 that I have in my possession, this bird {Fasser immtantis) does not 

 seem to be at all common as a breeding species. There being quite 

 a colony within easy distance of our village, I have had good 

 opportunities for observing its habits during the breeding-season. 



The colony is located in the stone facing of a canal wall, perhaps 

 a third of a mile long, with a space of about three feet between the 

 coping and the water-level. Weather and water have dissolved the 

 mortar from between the stones, leaving many suitable nesting-sites. 

 With the exception of a pair or two of Starlings, the Tree Sparrows 

 have monopolised the whole of the situation. I have not been able 

 to detect at present a single House Sparrow's nest, though the bird 

 is abundant in the neighbourhood. This year (1889) nesting 

 operations commenced in the last week of April, and by the 

 1 2th May many of the nest contained the full complement of eggs. 

 Up to the end of the month it would have been still possible to 

 have obtained fresh eggs, though some of the nests contained young 

 birds. It is very difficult to get a perfect nest from the holes they 

 are in, but those I have been able to examine were semi-domed 

 in shape, like a Willow Wren's. Outwardly, they were loosely con- 

 structed of dry grasses, with a little straw and moss, and warmly lined 

 with hair and a profusion of feathers collected from the neighbouring 

 farm-yards. I found one nest containing young birds in a low dense 

 bush only a foot from the ground. 



The eggs, five or six in number, vary very much in their markings. 

 The ground colour is white or occasionally pale-green, but usually 

 so obscured by dark-brown or grey markings as to be almost 

 invisible. Compared with those of the House Sparrow, they are, as 

 a rule, much darker and smaller, though no doubt the measurements 

 overlap. Perhaps the eggs they most resemble are those of the 

 Meadow Pipit. A beautiful variety has the colour all massed at one 

 end. At the nest the Tree Sparrow is a much shyer bird than its 

 famihar ally, flying off at the least alarm, even when incubation is 

 advanced. 



The note is similar to that of the House Sparrow, but not so 

 harsh, and shriller. It is curiously local in its breeding-haunts ; 

 though this colony contains perhaps fifty pairs, I have only twice 



Feb. 1890. 



