THE SPARROW. 95 
Indeed, the generality of the birds build in tall trees, 
usually associating together, so that fifteen or twenty nests 
are made in the same tree, The nests are well and care- 
fully made of mud, roots, and grasses, about four inches 
in depth, and warmly lined with horsehair and very fine 
grasses. The fact that the bird possesses this capability 
of nest-building gives more interest to the occasional 
habit of sharing its home with the osprey—a privilege 
of which it seems to avail itself whenever an osprey’s 
nest is within reach. 
The colour of this bird appears at a little distance to be 
black, but is in reality a very deep purple, changing in 
different lights to green, violet, and copper, and having a 
glossy sheen like that of satin. 
Our little friend the Sparrow is occasionally a para- 
site, following to some extent the custom of the purple 
grakle, though it does not select a bird of prey for its 
companion. 
On the Continent, the common stork builds largely, and 
in several countries is protected by general consent, the 
slaughter of a stork, or the destruction of its nest and 
eggs, being visited with a heavy fine. In consequence 
of this immunity, the stork is very tame, building upon 
houses as freely as does the martin, and being considered 
as a bringer of good luck when it does so. 
Any disused chimney is sure to have a stork’s nest upon 
the top, and so is a pillar, or any ruin. ‘The nest of the 
stork bears a general resemblance to that of the osprey, 
and with the exception of the seaweed, is made of similar 
materials. It is of huge dimensions, and chiefly consists 
of sticks and reeds, heaped together without much arrange- 
ment, and having on the top a slight depression, in which 
the eggs are laid. As is the case with the osprey nest, 
