94 THE MOUNTAIN OR TREE SPARROW 



ceases, and the combatants return to their various occupations. 

 A writer in the Naturalist gives an account of a fray of this kind, 

 during which three male birds fell at his feet one after another 

 either dead or dying ; but cases of this kind are very rare. 



Sparrows build their nests at a considerable elevation from the 

 ground, but are by no means particular as to the locality. At the 

 period when most farmhouses and cottages were thatched, the 

 eaves were their favourite resort, and here they hoUowed out for 

 themselves most comfortable dwellings. The general emplo5mient 

 of tiles or slates has interfered with this arrangement ; but they 

 will fix upon any projection, niche, crack, or hole which will hold a 

 nest, and if these are all occupied, content themselves with a tree ; 

 but, as far as my own observation goes, the number built in trees 

 far exceeds that to be found in other localities. Very frequently 

 they appropriate the nest of the House Martin. The nest itself 

 is a rude structure, composed mainly of straw and hay, and lined 

 with feathers and any other soft materials which they can find. 

 Two or three broods are reared every year, the number of eggs 

 being usually five. The young are fed on worms, caterpillars, 

 and insects of various kinds. 



THE MOUNTAIN OR TREE SPARROW 



PASSER MONTANUS 



Crown and back of the head chestnut-brown ; lore, ear-coverts, and throat 

 black ; neck almost surrounded by a white collar ; upper plumage 

 resembling the last ; wing with two transverse white bars. The female 

 scarcely differs from the male. Length five inches and a half. Eggs as 

 in the last. 



The Mountain Sparrow seems scarcely to deserve its name, as 

 it is by no means confined to mountainous districts. It is abundant 

 aU over the European continent, and is to be met with here and 

 there in many parts of England in the east of Scotland and of 

 late years in Ireland and in the Hebrides ; but it is nowhere so 

 abundant as the House Sparrow, which it resembles in all respects, 

 except that the head is of a bright chestnut colour, and the neck 

 wears a white collar. I have never seen it except in society with 

 the common species, and could never detect any difference either 

 in flight or note ; but other observers state that the flight is slow 

 and constrained, and the note assumes more the character of a 

 song. The nest is placed in soft rotten wood of pollard willows 

 and other trees, in hollow trees and under the thatch of buildings. 



