HOUSE FINCH. 431 



nutriment that are thrown out for poultry, pigeons, 

 &c. in spite of every precaution : it is a very 

 crafty bird, and usually avoids traps and snares 

 that are set to take it ; but is easily caught in the 

 autumn and winter, by a bat-fowling net, when 

 they collect in numbers on trees : it has no song, 

 but only a disagreeable chirp : its flesh is ac- 

 counted very good eating by many : the appearance 

 of this bird, in large and smoky towns, is not very 

 agreeable, as it is generally very dirty and plain in 

 its colours ; but among farm-yards the male ex- 

 hibits a great variety in his plumage, and is far 

 from being the least beautiful of the British birds. 

 Buffon, with his usual warmth of imagination, has 

 summed up the character of this species in the 

 following words : " It is extremely destructive, its 

 plumage is entirely useless, its flesh indifferent 

 food, its notes grating to the ear, and its fami- 

 liarity and petulance disgusting." But although 

 it may partially deserve the above character, w r e 

 must not condemn the species, when its great use 

 in the ceconomy of nature is considered ; for it has 

 been observed that a single pair of Sparrows, dur- 

 ing the time of rearing their young, will destroy 

 about four thousand caterpillars weekly: they like- 

 wise feed them with butterflies and other winged 

 insects, each of which, if not destroyed in this 

 manner, would be productive of several hundreds 

 of caterpillars. 



