277 



THE 

 TREE-SPARROW IN THE COUNTY OF DURHAM. 



J. W. FAWCETT, 

 The Grange, Sat ley. 



In the February number of 'The NaturaHst,' Mr. W'hitlock contri- 

 buted some notes on the Tree-Sparrow in Nottinghamshire, which 

 was followed, in the March number, by an article from the Rev. H. A. 

 Macpherson on the Tree-Sparrow in the Lake District, and perhaps 

 it may not be out of place if I follow with some brief notes on the 

 same bird in the county of Durham. 



The Tree-Sparrow in the county of Durham is a local resident, 

 i.e., it is found in certain localities all the year round, and being a shy 

 bird it is not so much noticed as its better known congener and 

 relative. The bird nests early, sometimes in February or March, and 

 generally rears two broods in the season, the second being in June 

 and July. The nest resembles that of the House Sparrow, only 

 instead of straw it has often withered grass. The eggs, in some cases 

 smaller than those of its relative, range from four to six, though 

 I have frequently known as many as seven and eight, five being the 

 average. The nesting-places of this bird which I have come across 

 are as follows : — in holes of decayed trees, holes in walls, under the 

 coping-stones of farm-buildings and garden walls, in hedges, bushes, 

 between trunks of trees and the ivy clinging to them, in forks of 

 branches, and amongst the branches. The trees have been generally 

 pollard willows, to which it is especially partial, planes, oaks, larch 

 and scotch firs, and the l)ushes, thorns and woodbines. In the 

 summers of 1880, 1881, and 1S82, a colony of these birds took 

 up their nesting-places in close proximity to the iarmstead of Baxter 

 Wood, in the Browney valley, about a mile and a half from the city 

 of Durham, where the House Sparrow was very common. From 

 almost constant observations which I made during the breeding 

 season — June, July — I found that the two species inter-paired, but, 

 unfortunately, I am not able to say whether they reared any young, 

 as the trees were near a public foot-path, and the nests were much 

 disturbed, being totally robbed of their contents at various 

 times. In every case of the inter-pairing it was a male Tree-Sparrow 

 with a female House Sparrow. 



Some of the situations of the colonies where these birds locate 

 themselves in this county are as follows : — in the city and neigh- 

 Sept. 1890. 



