SPA 



angular, armed with ftraight pungent fpines. Seeds two 

 in each cell. 



Obf. Ventenat has juftly remarked that the fuppofed 

 nedaries are, as well as the perfeft ftamens, inferted into 

 the receptacle, and not, as Schreber after Thiinberg afferts, 

 into the germen, and that they are properly to be confidered 

 as imperfect ftamens. 



1. S. africana. African Sparrraannia. Lmn. Suppl. 

 265. Wiild. n. I. Ait. n. i. Retz. Obf. fafc. 5. 25. 

 I. 3, (but the fynonym, habitat, and all that foUoTis, be- 

 long to the preceding Lagerjlromia.) Curt. Mag. t. 516. 

 Venten. Malmaif. t. 78. — Native of woods and thickets, 

 on the fides of hills, at the Cape of Good Hope, flowering 

 from Oftober to January. It was introduced at Kew, in 

 1790, by Mr. Mafibn, and makes a moft elegant and 

 fplendid appearance in the colleftion of greenhoufe (hrubs, 

 in the fpring, and early part of the fummer. The whole 

 plant is clothed with fine, filky, fpreading hairs. Stem 

 fhrubby, ereft, two to fix feet high, with round, alternate, 

 leafy branches. Leaves alternate, ftalked, dependent, large, 

 heart-lhaped, pointed, crenate, llightly lobed, veiny, re- 

 fembling thofe of fome Mallow, Slda, or HWifcus. Stipulas 

 awl-fhaped, lateral, in pairs near the bafe of each footjlalh. 

 Flowers in large, terminal, hairy umbels, like thofe of a 

 Cape Geranium, with awl-(haped hraBeas. Calyx downy, 

 pale brown, not quite an inch long. Petals white, wrinkled, 

 often emarginate. Filaments yellow, partly crimfon. yfn- 

 thers brown. This (hrub is propagated, virithout much dif- 

 ficulty, either by cuttings or feeds ; but we know not 

 whether the latter are often perfefted in Europe. 



SPARROW, Passer, in Ornithology, the name of a 

 large order of birds. See Passbres. 



Sparrow, Common, or Houfe, the Fringilla tlomejlica of 

 Linnaeus, is a well-known bird, and needs no defcription. 

 Sparrows are proverbially falacious : they breed early in 

 the fpring, often in the nefts of the martin, after expeUing 

 the owner ; the martin, however, in revenge, is faid to 

 aflemble its companions, and to afllll in plaftering up the 

 entrance with dirt, and thus leaves the invader to perifh. 

 See Fringilla. 



Sparrow, Hedge, Curruca, or MotaclUa modularis of 

 Linnaeus, a bird of the fize of the red-breaft, or of the tit- 

 lark. Its beak is longifh, flender, and black ; its head is 

 of a deep brown, mixed with afh-colour ; the cheeks are 

 marked with oblong fpots of dirty white ; the back and 

 coverts of the wings are dufky, edged with reddifh-brown ; 

 the quill-feathers and tail dufky ; the rump brown, tinged 

 with green ; the throat and breail are of a dull afh-colour ; 

 the belly of a dirty white ; the fides, thighs, and vent- 

 feathers are of a pale tawny brown ; and the legs of a dull 

 flefh-colour. This bird frequents low hedges, particularly 

 thofe of gardens ; making its neft in fome fmall bufh, where 

 it lays four or five eggs of a fine pale blue colour ; and 

 during the breeding-feaion it has a remarkable flirt with its 

 wings. The male has a (hort but very fweet plaintive note, 

 which it begins with the firft frotty mornings, and continues 

 till a little time in the fpring. 



The bird which Linnaeus fuppofes to be our hedge- 

 fparrow, which he defcribes under the title of motacilla 

 curruca, and to which he applies the denomination of canna- 

 varola, differs in colour of plumage as well as eggs. Pen- 

 nant. 



It is in the neft of this bird that the cuckoo hatches her 

 eggs for the moll part, though not always, the nefts of 

 turtle and wood-pigeons being fometimes ufed by her for 

 that purpofe. Hence it was that the ancients made the 

 cuckoo an emblem of fuch men as made bold with the mar- 



SPA 



riage-bed of others, who, on that account, were called 

 currucs. See Mot.icill.v. 



Sparrow, Reed, Pajfer arund'maceus, t]\c Emberizafchoe- 

 niclus of Linna;us, a bird that lives moll commonly among 

 reeds in tnarfliy places, and known among authors by the 

 name of junco. 



Its netl is curioufly contrived, being faftened to four 

 reeds, and fufpended by them like a hammock, about three 

 feet above the water. It lays four or five eggs of a blueifh- 

 white, marked with irregular purplifh veins. This bird is 

 much admired for its fong, and like the nightingale it fings 

 in the night. In the male, the head, chin, and throat, are 

 black ; the tongue livid ; at each corner of the mouth com- 

 mences a white rmg, which encircles the head ; at appi-oach 

 of winter the head changes to hoary, but on return of 

 fpring refumes its jet colour ; the whole under fide of the 

 body is white ; the back, coverts of the wings, and the 

 fcapular feathers, are black, deeply bordered with red ; the 

 two middle feathers of the tail are of the fame colours, the 

 three next black ; the exterior web, and part of the interior 

 of the outmoft feather, are white : the head of the female is 

 ruft-coloured, fpotted with black ; it wants the white 

 ring round the neck, but in moft other refpcfts refembles 

 the male. Pennant. See Emberiza. 



Sparrow, Lejfer Reed, IVilloiu Lark, or SedgebirJ, 

 Pajfer arund'maceus minor, the Motacilla falicaria of Lin- 

 njeus, is a fpecies of a flender elegant form ; the head brown, 

 marked with duflcy llreaks ; over each eye a line of pure 

 white, over that another of black ; cheeks brown ; throat, 

 breaft, and belly white, the two laft tinged with yellow ; 

 hind-part of the neck and back of a reddifh-brown ; the 

 back fpotted with black ; coverts of the tail tawny ; coverts 

 of the wings duflcy, edged with pale brown ; quill-feathers 

 dufky ; tail brown, and in the form of a wedge, and mak- 

 ing a circle when fpread, and legs duflcy. This bird i« 

 common in low wet grounds, fits on the top of fome fpray 

 with its wings difhevelled ; its fong confifts of but two 

 notes, which are loud, querulous, and harfh. Pennant. 



Ray obferves, that the leller reed fparrow fings fweetiy, 

 and fome have called it cannavarola. See Motacilla. 

 Sparrow, Solitary. See Passer Solitarius. 

 Sparrow, Tree, Pajfer montanus, the Fringilla montana 

 of Linnaeus, is inferior in fize to the common fparrow ; the 

 bill is thick and black ; the crown of the head, hind part 

 of the neck, and lefler coverts of the wings, are of a bright 

 bay, the two firft plain, the laft fpotted with black ; the 

 chin black ; the cheeks and fides of the head white, marked 

 with a great black fpot beneath each ear ; the breaft and belly 

 of a dirty white ; juft above the greater coverts is a row of 

 feathers, black edged with white ; the greater coverts are 

 black, edged with a rufl-colour ; the quiU-feathers diafky, 

 edged with pale red ; lower part of the back of an olive- 

 brown ; the tail brown, and legs of a itraw-colour. 



Thefe birds are common in Lincolnfhire, among trees, 

 and colleft, Hke the common kind, in great flocks. Pennant. 

 See Fringilla. 



Sp-ARrow, Water, Pajfer aquaticui, a bird defcribed by 

 Nieremberg, which, he fays, the Indians call acototlequichitl. 

 It fings all day long without ceafing, but with no very 

 pleafing note. It is, however, a well-tafted bird. It lives 

 among fedge and bufhes, and is of the fize ai:d fliape of a 

 fwallow, but has a black bill and yellow legs ; its breaft 

 and belly are white, and its back is of a browniih-yellow, 

 variegated with fpots of black and white. This bird much 

 refembles our reed fparrow. Ray. 



Sparrow, in jigriculturf, a mifchievous deftruftive bird 

 in corn-fields, and which fhould moftly be deftroyed. It 



