The House Sparrow. 



53 



bluish tint, and only speckled at the thick end with a ring 

 of small spots, and two or three small stripes at the sides. 

 The hen has about four nests in the year. House Sparrows begin 

 propagation early in the spring, and continue far into the 

 summer. They are very affectionate birds, and display much 

 love for their progeny. 



Methods of Capture. — House Sparrows are wary and 

 suspicious, and, consequently, difficult to capture with traps 

 and snares. They may, however, be taken easily, at night 

 time, in a rick yard, by placing a net round a stack of wheat, 

 oats, or barley ; and then, on beating the stack with a stick, and 

 making a loud noise at the same time, the birds will bound 

 into the net. A moonlight night is the best time for this 

 operation. They may also be taken by covering part of a 

 house, or wall, that is ivy clad, and where they are known 

 to roost, in the same way as that just described ; they 

 may be enticed into a granary, and the door closed from 

 outside with a piece of string. But they are rarely caught, 

 except for shooting matches, as few care to keep them in 

 a cage. 



Food and Treatment. — Sparrows appear to be omnivorous ; 

 nothing comes amiss to them. They will eat bread, potatoes, 

 rice, and seeds of all kinds, as well as most kinds of fruit 

 and vegetables ; poultry and pigs' food, horses' mash, and dogs' 

 biscuits, are all comestibles, if not delicacies, to them. 



Rearing the Young. — Any person who may have a 

 penchant for rearing young Sparrows by hand will find no 

 difficulty in doing so. Take nestlings ten days old, and 

 feed them with milk and bread sop, or with a soft paste,, 

 made of equal proportions of pea and barley meal, moistened 

 with hot water, and stirred well together. Young birds 

 so reared become very tame. 



Distinguishing Marks of Cock and Hen. — The male bird 

 is more decided in colour, larger, and more pert and swaggering 

 in his gait than the female. The hen is dull reddish grey on 

 the back and shoulders, and speckled with black marks ; the 

 under parts, breast, belly, and vent, are dirty looking greyish 

 white. The female is deficient of the bright chestnut brown 

 in the wings — a distinguishing mark in the male bird. The 

 black on the throat, and the red stripe which extends along the 

 side of the head, from the eye to the neck, are paler and 



