The Hedge Sparrow. 



57 



blackish blue colour, but pale at the tip ; the eyes are 

 bluish black ; the head is small, and the bird altogether is 

 smaller than the House Sparrow. The head and neck are pale 

 greyish brown, spotted with dark brown ; the cheeks, throat, 

 and breast are grey, with a bluish shade ; the belly and vent 

 dirty-looking greyish white ; the back is light reddish brown, 

 spotted and striped with brownish black spots and marks ; 

 the wings are brown, edged with reddish brown ; the coverts 

 are also brown, the larger ones being bordered with white ; 

 the tail is dark brown, fringed at the tips with pale yellowish 

 brown. The young birds differ in appearance from their 

 parents ; the sides of the beak and nostrils are reddish flesh- 

 colour ; the breast is palish yellow and grey mixed, and the 

 back and head are profusely speckled with dark blackish brown 

 spots. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Hedge Sparrow is indigenous 

 to Great Britain, and is, like its confrere, the House Sparrow^ 

 pretty generally known throughout the whole of Europe. 

 It is a domestic bird, and rarely goes far away from 

 inhabited localities. It generally builds its nest in the 

 hedgerow, in fields and gardens not far from a farmstead, 

 or in a high thorn bush, young tree, or shrub. Sometimes 

 it chooses a plantation, and selects a tree ; at other times a 

 garden, orchard, or a gentleman's pleasure grounds, as a 

 suitable place wherein to nest. 



The Hedge Sparrow begins to breed early in the year. 

 The nest is composed chiefly of moss, and lined with hair. 

 The hen lays four or five eggs, varying in colour from 

 pale blue to palish sea-green, but mostly blue. The hen 

 incubates fourteen days, and the parents feed their young 

 for some time after they leave the nest. These birds do 

 not fret and repine after their eggs and progeny so much 

 as many other species of wild birds, but, after two or three 

 days, commence a fresh nest, which they usually build in a 

 spot not far distant from the place where the first nest was 

 erected. 



Methods of Capture. — In winter time these birds haunt 

 farm buildings and rick yards in search of shelter, and are 

 easily caught, as they are not shy ; neither do they exhibit 

 the cunning and suspicion inherent in the House Sparrow. 

 Clear a piece of ground in the immediate neighbourhood of 



