and what is most curious, in a bird at other times too idle to 

 make any nest at all, it very frequently constructs one in 

 firs and other thickly-foliaged trees of a very large size, 

 arched over at the top, and leaving only a small hole for 

 entrance ; it is composed of a quantity of straw and hay, 

 and is thickly lined with feathers ; it lays four or five, 

 sometimes six eggs, very much varying in colour : those in 

 the Plate, Figures 1 and 2, are selected as the most frequent ; 

 they are sometimes quite white, at others very slightly spotted: 

 I have seen one much resembling the eggs of the Skylark in 

 colour. 



PASSER MONTANUS. (brisson.) 

 Tree Sparrow. 



The Tree Sparrow is by no means so rare a bird as it 

 has been generally considered by Ornithologists. It breeds 

 abundantly in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and Derbyshire, 

 and no doubt throughout the country. To the kindness of 

 the Rev. W. D. Fox, of Osmaston Hall, near Derby, I am 

 indebted for the eggs here figured, together with varieties 

 of the eggs of this and of several of our small birds : he has, 

 during the last summer, found many nests of the Tree Spar- 

 row in which the eggs were generally freckled throughout, 

 resembling Figure 3 of the Plate, but of various shades of 

 brown, with the beautiful variety at Figure 4 occasionally 

 amongst them. They build in holes of high trees and of 

 low pollard willows ; their nest is much like that of our 

 common Sparrow, being formed of dry grass lined with 

 feathers, and contains four or five eggs ; the time of breed- 

 ing is May and June. 



