353 

 THE TREE SPARROW IN COUNTY DURHAM. 



J. \V, lAWCETT, 

 The Grange, S alley. 



In answer to Mr. Whitlock"s call, in the October number of 

 ' The Naturalist,' for further particulars of the Tree Sparrow {Fasser 

 montanus) in the county of Durham, I have much pleasure in 

 adding the following to my notes in the September part. 



The Tree Sparrow in Durham is a local resident, but, though we 

 have many staying with us all the year round, others arrive as spring 

 visitants ; in fact, nearly all our resident (twelve month round) birds 

 are partly migratory, i.e., immigrant and emigrant. The earliest 

 date I know of for the spring visitant Tree Sparrow arriving in this 

 country is March loth. The bird nests early, the time varying 

 according to the state of the weather; if the spring be fine and open 

 it may happen to be the end of February and the month of March ; 

 if, however, it is otherwise, the end of March or commencement of 

 April may be soon enough for the Tree Sparrow to commence 

 housekeeping. Whether it be the end of February or the months of 

 March or April that the birds commence to build and eventually 

 rear their young, they still hatch and bring up a second brood in 

 June and July, or may be the first half of August ; at least, such is 

 my opinion, and I have watched the movements, habits and manners 

 of the greater part of our British birds in no small measure. Not 

 only do the resident birds bring up their first brood during the 

 months above named, but also the spring visitants, though Durham, 

 I must confess, does not receive them in very great numbers, and 

 they (the latter) are, as might be supposed, the later of the two 

 (residents and visitants) in getting their first broods to be able to 

 care for themselves, though they generally commence nesting soon 

 after settling in the county, and hence seem to lose little time. 



I am not mistaken in my remarks anent the breeding (and inter- 

 pairing) of the two species, for I know the two distinct species very 

 well, and positively assert that what I have said was really the case 

 in 1880, 1 881, and 1882. Since the latter date I have not been in 

 that locality, and cannot venture to say that things are now what 

 they were then. Though I know that the Tree Sparrow is, or 

 has been, found in colonies at the places named in page 277 of 

 'The Naturalist' for this year, the Browney Valley (Baxter Wood) 

 one has, so far, been the only one whereat I was able to make such 

 close observations as I did, and the only one where I have known 

 the two species to interpair and inter-breed. 



Dec. 1890. Y 



