THE SPARROW. 345 
the fresh air of the country farm, in the midst of a crowded city, or among 
the strange sights and sounds of a large railway station; treating with equal 
indifference the slow-paced waggon-horses, as they deliberately drag their 
load over the country roads, the noisy cabs and omnibuses as they rattle 
over the city pavements, and the snorting, puffing engines, as they dash 
through the stations with a velocity that makes the earth tremble beneath 
their terrible rush. 
Although its ordinary food consists of insects and grain, both of which 
articles it can only obtain in the open country, it accommodates itself to a 
town life with perfect ease, and picks up a 
plentiful subsistence upon the various re- 
fuse that is thrown daily out of town houses, 
and which, before it is handed over to the 
dustman, is made by the Sparrow to yield 
many a meal. 
When in the country the Sparrow feeds 
almost wholly on insects and grain, the 
former being procured in the spring and 
early summer, and the latter in autumn 
and winter. As these birds assemble in 
Jarge flocks and are always very plentiful, 
they devour great quantities of grain, and 
are consequently much persecuted by the 
farmer, and th: ir numbers thinned by guns, 
traps, nets, and all kinds of devices. Yet 
their services in insect-killing are so great as 
to render them most useful birds to the agri- ; 
culturist. A single pair of these birds have sparrow.—(Passer domesticus.) 
been watched during a whole day, and 
were seen to convey to their young no less than forty grubs per hour, 
making an average exceeding three thousand in the course of the week. 
In every case where the Sparrows have been extirpated, there has been a pro- 
portional decrease in the crops from the ravages of insects. At Maine, for 
example, the total destruction of the Sparrows was ordered by Govern- 
ment, and the consequence was that in tl,e succeeding year even the trees 
were killed by caterpillars, and a similar oc currence took place near Auxerre. 
The nest of the »parrow is a very inartincial structure, composed of hay, 
straw, leaves, and various similar substances, ,and always filled with a pro- 
digious lining of feathers. For, 
although the Sparrow is as hardy 
a bird as can be seen, and appears 
to care little for snow or frost, it 
likes a warm bed to which it 
may retire after the toils of the 
day, and always stuffs its resting- / 
p'ace full of feathers, which it 
gts from all kinds of sources, 
Even their roosting-places are 
often crammed with feathers. 
Generally the nest is built in & 
soime convenient crevice, such as 
an old wall, especially if it be 
covered with ivy; but the bird YELLOW HAMMER.—(Zmeriza citrinella.) 
is by no means particular in the 
choice of a locality, and will build in many other situations. There are 
