PASSEE DOMESTICUS. 603 



swarming in Cairo, and says that it breeds in Upper Egypt in holes in the mud banks of the Nile. Further 

 east it is locally distributed in Algeria and Morocco, Passer salicicola being, according to Mr. Taylor, the 

 Sparrow of the country. On both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar it is common, and is spread similarly 

 throughout Spain. In Italy it is partly replaced by an allied species, P. cisalpinus ; but in Turkey it is 

 common, being the Sparrow of the district round Constantinople. It is spread commonly throughout Central 

 and Northern Europe, including Russia, in which empire it is found as far north as Archangel. To the west- 

 ward it is generally distributed throughout Finland. In Sweden we learn, from Professor Newton's edition of 

 Yarrell, that it follows the settlers into the forest wilds, and the most northern point recorded for it is 

 Karesuando ; in Norway it occurs in most of the settlements " along the coast to the Loffodens and Alten,'' 

 but further north it is only occasionally seen. From the same authority we learn that the only places in which 

 it does not exist are the Outer Hebrides and the hill-farms in Ayrshire, and that there is also a certain moor- 

 land village in Devon, called Shepstor, in which it is never seen. There are, likewise, places in the highlands 

 where it is very rare, but everywhere else in Great Britain it is to be found. As regards Ireland it is 

 apparently universally distributed throughout the country, although the information concerning it is not so 

 full as might be wished. It occurs in Madeira occasionally, according to Mr. Godman, but is not recorded 

 from any other of the Atlantic isles. 



Habits. — In common with the Crow, which is an equally familiar feathered citizen in the East, the Sparrow 

 is possessed of an extraordinary amount of domesticity and utter disregard of the human dwellers in the 

 buildings which afford him shelter. His impudence and assurance are charming, and he by far excels his 

 European relations in this respect. If he is not making his nest in your verandah, littering the whole place 

 with straw, grass, rags, and a miscellaneous variety of building-materials, he is flying in and out of your 

 breakfast-room, where he feasts on the crumbs beneath the table ; and when he cannot supply himself from 

 that source, he thinks but little of flying up and levying contributions, after the manner of the Crow, on the 

 loaf, the moment the Appoo's back is turned. The Sparrow is seldom seen away from houses, except when 

 the corn near villages is in ear; and then he may be found in the paddy-fields, feasting on the grain in common 

 with Munias. In England, the hedgerows in early spring are resorted to, and it wanders away from its 

 accustomed haunts, returning, however, at nights to roost; but in Ceylon it is not much found about isolated 

 houses in the country, and has not the same opportunity of ruraliziug as at home. The males are just as 

 pugnacious as they are in colder climes ; and during the breeding-season many a good sparrow-fight is carried 

 on in the bungalow verandah, several neglected suitors sometimes setting on a coveted female and administering 

 a most unmerciful chastisement ; and it is a question whether, in the excitement of the fray, she does not 

 receive an equal punishment at the beak of her favoured lord. 



Owing to the open nature of buildings in Ceylon, the Sparrow comes more under human observation than 

 he does in Europe, and is often voted a great nuisance ; even the sanctity of the church is not the means of 

 repelling his inroads, for he frequently disturbs a congregation by his loud chirpings underneath the tiled roof 

 and by flying about in the most casual manner, as if the building were empty and he had a perfect right to do 

 as he liked. 



The general habits of the Sparrow are too well known to require recapitulation ; and I have merely takeu 

 up room to say what I have on the subject in order to give my European readers some idea of its behaviour 

 in the East. Its diet is both insectivorous and granivorous ; and I have no doubt that the quantity of insects 

 which it destroys counterbalances the evil which it is said to do in its attacks on grain. 



Nidification.— As in England so in Ceylon, the Sparrow breeds all the year round ; but the greater number of 

 nests are built between the months of May and October ; and during this period, in the Western Province at 

 any rate, August is, I think, the favourite month. The nest is placed anywhere in a building or in a roof 

 where there is sufficient cavity or space for its formation ; it sometimes is built in a thickly foliaged lime-tree 

 near a house, and is then a large structure of grass and straw lined with feathers, the entrance being a hole at 

 the side. The natives, who are fond of the Sparrow, often fix an old chatty, pierced with a small hole, on 

 their walls for it to nest in ; and the offer thus made does not often seem to be refused, as these earthen 

 vessels are just suited for the reception of a large and untidy bundle of straw, such as " Philip Sparrow " delights 



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