SPARROW. 



481 



SPARROW (Passer domesticus, Aldrovand.) 



* Fringilla domestica, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 323. 36. — Gmel. Syst. l.p 925. sp. 36 



Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 432. sp. 1. — Pyrgita domestica, Cuv. and Flem. p. 83. — 



Passer domesticus, Raii, Syn. p. 86. A. — Will. p. 182. — Briss. 3. p. 72 Le 



Moineau, Buff. Ois. 3. p. 474. t. 29. f. 1 lb. pi. Enl. 6. f. 1. and 2 Gros- 



bec Moineau, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 350. — Haus Sperling, Bechst. Naturg. 



Deut. 3. p. 107.— Frisch, t. 8. f. 1. A. B Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 156. 



House Sparrow, Br. Zool. 1. No. 127. t. 51 Arct. Zool. 2. p. 382. g.— Will. 



(Angl.) p. 244. t. 44.— Lath. Syn. 3. p. 248. 1.— Ib. Supp. p. 163.— Lewin's 



Br. Birds, 2. t. 77 Mont. Orn. Diet. 2 Albin, 1. t. 62.— Wale. Syn. 2. t. 



215.— Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 12 Low's Faun. Oread, p. 59.— Bewick's Br. Birds, 



1. p. t. 154.— Shaw's Zool. 9. p. 429. t. 64. figs. 1.*— Setbij, pi. 54. figs. 4. 5. p. 

 265* 



This well-known species weighs near seven drams ; length about 

 six inches ; the bill is dusky ; irides hazel ; the crown of the head 

 ash-colour ; round the eye, and between that and the bill, is black ; be- 

 hind the eyes, surrounding the back part of the head, bay ; cheeks 

 white ; chin and under part of the neck black, mixed with grey ; belly 

 dirty white, ; the coverts of the wings are chestnut and black mixed, 

 with a whitish bar across them ; the back a mixture of black and 

 rufous ; quills dusky, with rufous edges ; tail dusky, edged with grey ; 

 legs brown. The bill of the female is lighter ; behind the eye a line of 

 white ; the head and whole upper parts are brown, the under dirty 

 white, dashed with ash-colour ; no black on the chin or neck. * In 

 the country, the Sparrow exhibits a gloss and intermixture of colours 

 rarely to be seen in those inhabiting large towns, which soon become 

 of a dingy, and almost uniform hue, from the accumulation of dust and 

 smoke upon their plumage.* 



The Sparrow is well known in every part of England ; it inhabits 

 the dwellings of the rich and poor, taking possession of the humble 

 thatched cottage in preference to the sumptuous palace. It is rarely 

 seen far from the habitation of man, as it delights in the fruits of his 

 labour ; the highest cultivated parts producing the greatest quantity. 

 It might be said of this bird, as of some species of water-fowl, which 

 remaining always within soundings, warn the mariner of his approach 

 to land ; so on the extensive and dreary mountains, not a sparrow is 

 ever to be seen ; and the sight of one bespeaks some habitation near. 

 It makes a nest conformable to the place it chooses for incubation; 

 whether in a hole of a wall, in thatch, or under the tiles of a house, 

 or in a window swallow's nest, it must conform to the size of the 

 place ; but when the nest is made in a tree, it is of large size, and 

 covered at top, composed of hay and straw, lined warmly with feathers 

 and fragments of thread or worsted, bits of cloth, or any refuse material 

 of that sort, found about houses. 



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