DEER-SHOOTING AND OTHER MATTERS. 101 



in Japan exactly what the house-sparrow is to us in 

 England. It lives in the streets, and breeds in the 

 thatched roofs and holes in the walls. The Japanese 

 boys amuse themselves by putting bird-lime on the top 

 joint of an old bamboo-rod, and then cunningly stalk the 

 sparrows as they sit perched on the eaves of the houses. 

 There are numerous birds that have prolonged notes 

 or even a kind of short spasmodic song ; but from my 

 own experience over many years spent in the country, 

 I consider there is but one real songster, and that is 

 our own species of lark (Alauda arvensis). To see this 

 bird rise from the ground, and go soaring up until 

 almost out of sight, singing during the time, just, in 

 fact, as the bird does from an English field in spring 

 or summer, is more than interesting. There is some- 

 thing very charming, very home-taking, when so far 

 away — as far away in reality as can be reached by 

 sea or land — in thus being reminded of home scenes 

 and associations. The common Japanese crow (Corvus 

 japoniensis) is found everywhere. They roost in certain 

 set places, generally in the clumps of trees, which 

 invariably surround the temples, and which are close 

 to or in the villages; here they congregate in great 

 numbers every evening. They breed, however, raven- 

 like, in single trees, and far from each other; or in rocks. 



