134 CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



slight preparation for her brood is often avoided by the cunning female, who will creep into the nest 

 of a Swallow, there to deposit her eggs ; and should she find a brood still occupying it, will at once 

 destroy the helpless young ones, throwing them over the side, to make room for her own offspring, 

 quite regardless of the cries of the unhappy mother. It was once believed that the Swallow would 

 avenge the injury thus inflicted, but this we regard as a fable. The first eggs — generally from five 

 to seven in number — are laid in March ; the shell is smooth and delicate, of a dull purplish white, 

 very variously spotted with brown or dark grey. The parents sit by turns on the nest for about 

 thirteen or fourteen days ; they feed the young at first with soft insects, and afterwards with corn 

 that has been softened in their crops, until the fledglings are strong enough to eat seeds and various 

 kinds of fruit. A week after the first brood has left the nest preparations are commenced for another, 

 the second batch of eggs being laid within a fortnight of the departure of the first family ; and 

 thus they go on producing brood after brood until the end of September. Both parents are much 

 attached to their offspring, and should one of them die, the other will use every effort to supply 

 the wants of the young birds. Selby gives us a remarkable example of their perseverance in this 

 duty. He had observed that a pair of Sparrows continued to carry food until winter was close at 

 hand, and being anxious to discover the reason of such an unusual occurrence, examined the nest, in 

 which he found a young bird whose foot had become entangled, and was in this manner imprisoned, 

 so that the parents, unable to release it, continued to minister to its wants. 



Many persons are inclined to regard Sparrows as mischievous creatures, without considering the 

 immense services they render by devouring innumerable noxious insects. Frederick the Great of Prussia, 

 we are told, was so prejudiced against these birds that he issued a decree that they should be shot 

 whenever they appeared, and set a price upon their heads. The poor Sparrows were immediately 

 pursued in all directions, and some thousands of dollars expended in the course of a few days by the 

 State as payment for their destruction. The natural result of this barbarism followed ; the trees that 

 had been supposed to be injured by the birds were so covered with caterpillars and other insects, as 

 to be not only barren of fruit, but also quite denuded of their leaves, so that the King was at once 

 obliged to recall his decree, and had to command that Sparrows should be brought from all parts in 

 order to repair the mischief that he had done. These birds have been introduced into Australia 

 in the hope of their being similarly useful. Their flesh is often eaten, and in Italy small towers are 

 built, in the compartments of which they make their nests ; from these the young are taken as soon as 

 fledged, and are considered great dainties when spitted on a stick and roasted. In old Gesner's time 

 they were applied to a very different purpose : two spoonfuls of burnt Sparrow was supposed to be a 

 cure for avarice, and the flesh of the nestlings, when applied with a little vinegar, was considered 

 an excellent remedy for toothache. According to Pliny, their brains were extensively employed in 

 medicine. 



It is now satisfactorily decided that the Sparrows inhabiting Southern Europe are to be regarded 

 as varieties of our Passer domesticiis, and that the differences in their plumage are simply attributable 

 to the diversity of external circumstances. The colours of the male alter considerably as it advances 

 in age, or under any great change of climate ; the reddish brown upon the head spreading towards 

 the nape, while, on the contrary, the same beautiful tint upon the back becomes much more indistinct 

 as the black shade at the lower part of the feathers extends and mingles with it. Thus the Sparrows 

 of Provence and Italy, when no longer young, resemble ours in the colour of the back ; but the head 

 is generally entirely reddish brown or grey, the feathers being tipped with light brown only after, the 

 moulting season. These birds are very numerous in the warmer parts of Siberia, Buchara, Syria, 

 Java, Egypt, and Nubia, and are also found in the islands of the Mediterranean, especially in Sardinia. 

 The so-called Italian Sparrow (Passer Italicus) has been considered by some as constituting a distinct 



