British Cage Birds. 



chestnut, the next of the same colour, with broad white 

 margins, forming, when the wing is closed, a pretty white 

 band ; the larger coverts are the same colour as the wings. 

 The under side of the neck is greenish grey, spotted with 

 black ; the belly and sides are of a dull dingy grey, with 

 a greenish tinge ; the thighs are grey ; the legs and feet 

 pale brown. Sparrows vary somewhat in colour, according 

 to age ; occasionally they sport, and piebald, as well as 

 white, and even black specimens, are met with. These devia- 

 tions from the natural colours are generally the result of 

 disease or old age, or both combined. 



Habits and Breeding. — The House Sparrow is a well- 

 known bird throughout Europe, and may be said to resemble 

 the Irish race, in this respect, that it finds a home in most 

 parts of the habitable globe, and, wherever it takes up its 

 abode, its presence is soon known. It is a bird that displays 

 much intelligence, and a fondness for being warm. Wherever 

 an untenanted building, or one seldom used, is to be met 

 with, the fact soon becomes known to this inquisitive explorer, 

 and thither it wends its way when a shelter from rain or 

 cold is needed. As a rule, it prefers the outbuildings of a 

 farmyard as a nesting-place, for there it finds plenty of 

 materials for constructing its nest, and food to alleviate 

 its hunger. In towns, it manages to get access to the 

 roofs of churches and chapels, warehouses, and similar 

 places, creeping through any crevice or fissure that will 

 admit its body. Sometimes it selects homes on high walls 

 covered with dense masses of ivy, and at other times fruit 

 trees in gardens or orchards. It will even take possession 

 of the nest of a swallow, built at the side of a window, 

 driving off the rightful owners with beak and claw in the 

 most ruthless fashion. 



The nest of the House Sparrow is a rather rude and clumsily 

 constructed affair, and of considerable dimensions for so 

 small a bird. It is formed principally of straw and hay, 

 and lined profusely with wool and feathers. The hen lays 

 from four to six eggs — mostly five or six — of a greenish 

 grey colour, streaked and speckled all over, but more pro- 

 fusely at the blunt end, with black and brown spots. All 

 the eggs are not alike, and a great difference will be found 

 among those in the same nest ; sometimes they are of a 



