Birds of Britain 



helping to keep down many weeds which would otherwise 

 overrun our fields and gardens. Peaceful by nature, he 

 has become very common, and imagining ill of none he is 

 tame, hopping up from the path just in front of us, and 

 disappearing quietly and without sound into the nearest 

 cover, and then, working his way by quiet " creeping hops " 

 (if such an expression be allowable) to the bottom of the 

 bush or hedge, he reappears behind us. We in our turn, it 

 is true, do not often molest him, in fact he is generally 

 ignored and his presence unsuspected, and even when seen, 

 many of us think — " only a sparrow ! " and judge him and 

 his acts by those of a race as different from him in habits 

 and qualities as we are from the Chinese ! 



When he does utter a note, which is towards evening or 

 when suddenly alarmed, it is a short shrill "iss," rather 

 like a pencil being drawn across a slate ; his song, which 

 is commenced in March and only carried on during the 

 breeding season, is like his own character, very sweet and 

 unobtrusive, being in fact a low warble, wandering through 

 its inconsecutive measures without any marked phrases or 

 pauses. By early April he will have chosen his mate and 

 the site for his future home, and now and again one may 

 see him having a slight tiff with a neighbour, who may 

 covet his particular nesting-place, but it is nothing serious, 

 for the said neighbour, if defeated, will have his home but 

 a few yards farther on and apparently enjoy possession 

 unmolested. 



The nest is a beautiful structure ; the foundation is mane 

 of twigs and leaves, and the nest itself is of moss, strongly 

 felted together and lined with horsehair; it is perfectly 



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