70 FRINGILLID.E. 



Of all our permanent residents, Sparrows appear the most 

 covetous of warmth, and may be observed to take great 

 delight in basking in winter weather upon the sunny side 

 of a roof, or upon the gravel in a warm and sheltered path- 

 way ; sometimes they may be seen clinging against the 

 whitewashed side of a cottage, upon which the sun shines 

 brightly, apparently for the purpose of enjoying the warmth 

 thereby communicated. Sparrows also, as soon as cold au- 

 tumnal nights begin to set in, repair to the shelter afforded by 

 tiles and thatches, where they repair their nests or construct 

 new ones, accumulating a vast quantity of warm materials, 

 such as hay, feathers, wool, and shreds of all descriptions. 



Thus wisely collecting comforts about him, and providing 

 for himself a genial atmosphere, the Sparrow sets at defiance 

 the rigours of winter, and begins betimes to enjoy the occa- 

 sional intervals of returning warmth. The early breeding 

 of the House Sparrow has frequently been remarked : it is 

 by no means uncommon to meet with eggs of this species in 

 January, and instances have occurred of their being found as 

 early as December. The young birds, when fairly fledged, 

 may be seen sitting on the roofs near their birth-place, or 

 squatted on the ground in their vicinity, receiving from their 

 careful parents caterpillars and other insects, of which their 

 infantine nourishment entirely consists. 



ii Much has been said," observes a practical naturalist," 1 ' 

 " on the comparative merit of Sparrows as destroyers of in- 

 sects and grain : a long series of observations induces me to 

 assert that, with us, they prefer insect food, when it can be 

 procured, but at the same time they like to vary their diet at 

 every season with grain ; but no sooner is the insect world 

 called into life, and the hawthorn puts forth its tender leaves 

 in April, than their depredations cease, and they scan the 

 hedges, and even visit plantations at a considerable distance, 



* A. Hepburn Esq. in the 10th Number of the Zoologist. 



