some return for the mischief they are at other times con- 
stantly perpetrating;. 
They form their nests in holes, among thatch, wood- 
stacks, under the eaves of houses, and often the nests for- 
saken by Martins. The nest is without shape, composed 
of a great quantity of hay, straw, wool, hair, paper, and 
any soft materials they can collect in the vicinity of houses, 
and the old birds continue adding materials to the nest as 
long as the young ones are incapable of providing for them- 
selv?es. We remember to have seen an extraordinary degree 
of instinct exerted by a pair of these birds, that had built 
their nest in a wall contiguous to our residence. 
Having noticed that the parent birds continued to bring 
food to the nest for some months after the brood had left it, 
we had the curiosity to place a ladder against the wall for 
the purpose of ascertaining the cause, when to our surprize 
we found a full grown bird in the nest which had got its leg 
completely entangled in some thread which had formed 
part of the nest, in such a manner as to entirely prevent 
it leaving the nest. Wishing to see how long the industry 
of the old birds would be extended in behalf of their im- 
prisoned offspring, we left the bird and nest in the state 
we found it, and observed that the parent birds continued 
to supply food during the whole of the autumn and some 
part of the winter months, but the weather setting in very 
severe soon after Christmas, fearing the severity of the 
weather would occasion the death of the imprisoned bird, 
we disengaged its leg, and in a day or two it accompanied 
the old ones in search of food, but they continued to feed 
it till the month of March, and during the whole time they 
all nestled in the same spot. 
The Sparrow is liable to a considerable diversity of 
colour ; those resorting to large towns being much darker 
than such as frequent the country. They are also seen pied, 
with white or cream colour, entirely white, black, and 
black with white or party colour wings. 
Its eo-«-s are five or six in number, of a greenish white 
with dull green and ash colour spots and streaks. 
