102 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
of our own species, who, when they go abroad, 
leave their whole stock of morality at home. Even 
with us Miss Ormerod is exceedingly bitter against 
him, and desires nothing less than his complete 
extirpation ; but it is possible that this lady's zeal 
may not be according to knowledge, that she may 
not know a sparrow quite so well as she knows a 
fly. At all events, the ornithologist finds it hard to 
believe that so bad an insect-catcher is really causing 
the extinction of any exclusively insectivorous 
species. On her own very high authority we know 
that the insect supply is not diminishing, that the 
injurious kinds alone are able to inflict an annual 
loss equal to £10,000,000 on the British farmer. 
To put aside this controversial matter, the sparrow 
with all his faults is a pleasant merry little fellow ; 
in many towns he is the sole representative of wild 
bird life, and is therefore a great deal to us — 
especially in the metropolis, in which he most 
abounds, and where at every quiet interval his 
blithe chirruping comes to us like a sound of 
subdued and happy laughter. In London itself 
this merriment of Nature never irritates ; it is so 
much finer and more aerial in character than the 
gross jarring noises of the street, that it is a relief 
to listen to it, and it is like melody. In the quiet 
suburbs it sounds much louder and without inter- 
mission. And going further afield, in woods, 
