ORDER PASSERES. 2S9 



the negroes who inhabit to the south of this promontory, and 

 the seeds of such plants form no suitable aliment for the 

 sparrows ; so that it appears, if these birds do not frequent 

 all corn countries, at least it is certain, they do not 

 approach those where com, of some kind or other, is not cul- 

 tivated. A fact, comparatively recently made kno\vn, comes 

 in to confirm these observations. In the voyage of Commo- 

 dore Billings to the north of Asiatic Russia, and the Icy Sea, 

 &c. we read that the banks of the Pellidoui, a river of Siberia, 

 which falls into the Lena, are famous as well for the kind 

 of animals found there, as because they are the last spot in that 

 quarter which produces com. The sparrows and pies pro- 

 ceed no farther north than this. It is even particularly speci- 

 fied in the work just mentioned, that, at the time it was written, 

 they had only been seen there for five years, exactly the time for 

 which grain had commenced to be cultivated on these banks. 

 The sparrows are notorious for the warmth of their tempe- 

 rament, and the males fight desperately for the females, 

 during the season of reproduction. These combats are so 

 violent, that some of the parties frequently drop down dead. 

 They employ hay and feathers in the construction of the nest, 

 contenting themselves with arranging these materials negli- 

 gently under the tiles, in the holes and crevices of walls. But 

 they form a regular tissue of them, when they nestle in large 

 trees, such as nut-trees, poplars, &c. They there give to the 

 nest a rounded form, and cover the upper part exactly, 

 leaving but one aperture below this cap. Some take posses- 

 sion of the nests of swallows, &c. The eggs are five, six, 

 and sometimes seven or eight in number, of a whitish ash- 

 colour, with abundance of brown spots. The little ones 

 are born without feathers or down, and are all over red. 

 Wlierever they establish themselves to multiply their species, 

 they do not appear at all affected by the noise about them, 

 and to which they are accustomed from infancy. 



