HABITS OF EUROPEAN SPARROW. Q 



As in Carinatce the quadrate in its earliest stages articulates 

 ■with the skull by a single head, but in the advanced embryo the 

 articulation becomes distinctly double, one facet coming in contact 

 ■with a cartilaginous socket furnished by the prootic, another by a 

 perfectly distinct socket furnished jointly by the alisphenoid and the 

 squamosal. The single-headed character of the quadrate is thus 

 shown to be a secondary and not a primitive character. Even in the 

 adult the head shows an indistinct separation into two surfaces. 



(To be continued. J 



ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE EUROPEAN 

 SPARROW ( Passer domesticusj IN NEW ZEALAND.* 



BY T. W KIRK, F.R.M, & L.SS., (Load.) 



The author stated that be had been for some years collecting 

 evidence on the sparrow question in New Zealand. He divided the 

 subject into various sections, but remarked that, as there was not yet 

 sufficient reliable evidence to hand, on which to form an unbiassed judg- 

 ment, as to the question of whether the sparrow did more good than 

 harm, he would confine himself to the breeding habits of Passer domes- 

 tlcus in New Zealand; leaving for a future occasion the complete history 

 of the sparrow in this country, which he hoped ere long to submit. He 

 then went on to say that the statements on the breeding habits, though 

 brief, are the result of numerous enquiries, and of lengthened personal 

 observations. It is hoped that their publication may induce other 

 persons who have made reliable notes, to help, by recording their obser- 

 vations and experience. " I shall assume, for the purposes of the 

 calculation I am about to make, that no extensive action is taken by 

 man for the destruction of his small opponent, if such he is to be called, 

 and as the natural enemies in this country are hardly worth mentioning, 

 we will allow only for accidental and natural deaths. Speaking of the 

 natural enemies, reminds me of an incident I once noted between 

 Featherston and Martinborough, showing to what lengths the daring 

 and cool impudence of the sparrow will sometimes go. Hearing a most 

 unusual noise, as though all the small birds in the country had joined 

 in one grand quarrel, I looked up and saw a large hawk (E. gouldi, a 

 carrion feeder) being buffeted by a flock of sparrows, I should say 

 several hundreds ; they kept dashing at him in scores, and from all 

 points at once. The unfortunate hawk was quite powerless, indeed he 

 seemed to have no heart left, for he did not attempt to retaliate, and his 

 defence was of the feeblest ; at last, approaching some scrub, he made a 

 rush, indicative of a forlorn hope, gained the shelter, and there remained. 

 I watched for fully half an hour, but he did not re-appear. The spar- 

 rows congregated in groups about the bushes, keeping up a constant 



* Abstract of a paper read at the meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, on 



2nd July last. 



