HOUSE SPARROW AND TREE SPARROW. 183 



I have seen Sparrows eating dock seeds ravenously, and 

 have taken out of their crops the seeds of the charlock 

 or wild mustard — that plant which so often chokes the 

 growing grain, and spreads its golden blooms throughout 

 an entire field. We must also bear in mind that our 

 game preservers are indirectly responsible for many of 

 the Sparrow's ill doings ; for by their relentless persecu- 

 tion of our birds of prey they have relieved the Sparrow 

 of vigilant enemies and natural guards against its undue 

 increase, and thereby allowed him to multiply in a 

 manner Nature never intended. 



The Tree Sparrow, a bird differing by the way but 

 slightly from its cousin the House Sparrow, shows a choice 

 of habitat directly opposite. While the House Sparrow 

 courts man's society, the Tree Sparrow shuns it, and 

 retires far into the wilds for sustenance. In the planta- 

 tions, or on the borders of the mountain torrent, we 

 sometimes hear his peculiar chirp ; and miles away from 

 man's abode we are often gratified with his pert crafty 

 appearance. But though strictly speaking a bird of the 

 wild, he is not unfrequently seen in the fields and even 

 in the farmyard amongst the commoner species. The 

 Tree Sparrow is a much more lively species, and con- 

 fines himself for the most part to trees. His voice too 

 is different, being more shrill and musical than the 

 monotonous chirp of the house species. 



As the Tree Sparrow is a bird of but local distribu- 

 tion, though certainly thought to be much rarer than it 

 really is, we are not often gratified by a sight of his nest. 

 Nests that have come under my own observation were 

 placed in holes in trees, and such situations, with holes 

 in rocks, I consider are peculiar to this species, for the 

 bird seldom or probably never builds it in the open air. 

 The nest also is nothing near so comfortable as that of 



