HOUSE-SPARROW. 
3 
While examining their composition I remarked that the lining in almost every instance consisted of the down 
plucked by some captive Wildfowl, while sitting, to cover their eggs, together with a quantity of feathers from 
the same birds. Some half-dozen nests of these Ducks having recently been cleared away and thrown on a 
rubbish-heap, the Sparrows had evidently availed themselves of the opportunity for furnishing their own 
domiciles; small scraps of paper had also been intermixed with these materials in one or two nests. 
Though sufficiently hardy to endure the cold to which we are exposed during most winters, Sparrows suffer 
severely from the effects of the hurricanes that occasionally break over these islands. During the terrific snow- 
storm of January 18, 1881, the force of the wind and drifting snow was such that thousands of small birds were 
driven to seek shelter from the cutting blasts in all sorts of out of the way corners and crevices, from which 
few succeeded in effecting their escape. An instance where at least fifty Sparrows had taken refuge under the 
shelter of a trug-basket * (containing fish for the captive Gauncts) placed in a shed on our grounds near Brighton 
came under my notice, the warmth from the chimney-stack of a furnace, against which the basket was lying, 
having probably attracted them to the spot. These unfortunate birds were huddled together in an almost 
helpless mass, most of them being unable to rise on wing or even stir, as the snow had frozen into solid 
lumps of ice upon their backs and rendered flight impossible. On the following morning between forty 
and fifty were found lying dead under the snow-drifts collected round the basket. 
A few weeks back I watched a pair of Sparrows amusing themselves in a most singular manner ; the two 
birds were perched on the gutter running round the roof of a conservatory, from which point they kept 
fluttering some three or four feet up the glass and then sliding quietly back, the performance being indulged 
in for several minutes. 
Though the farmer has just cause for complaint against this species, the Sparrow makes a certain amount 
of reparation for the damage committed, by the quantities of insects supplied to the young broods. In the 
immediate vicinity of towns I have repeatedly seen acres of corn where the ears were almost entirely stripped 
of grain, clouds of young Sparrows rising from these barren patches when alarmed. In such localities it is 
necessary for the birds to be continually scared, or great loss would ensue, the countless multitudes that 
find shelter about the buildings in the neighbourhood being entirely beyond the reach of the farmer. A lew 
pence for every score or dozen are often paid by agriculturists in the country to the lads in their employment for 
vouno- Sparrows taken on the premises. If those who offer these rewards thoroughly understood their own 
interests, none but full-fledged birds just fit to quit the nest and commence plundering on their own account 
would be destroyed ; it is without doubt while providing for its offspring that this species renders the 
greatest service. 
Numbers of spring flowers also suffer from the inevitable Sparrow ; in our small piece of ground near 
Brighton, the primroses that fringe the paths in the shrubberies are entirely ruined till late in the season. I 
find the following entries in my notes referring to their depredations : 
“December 29, 1883. Sparrows had already commenced to crop the primroses, every flower or bud that 
showed having been bitten olf. 
“ January 29, 1881. The bloom of the primroses totally destroyed by the Sparrows. 
“ February 9, 1881. Hundreds of yellow and variegated crocuses lying on the beds, having been bitten in 
pieces by the Sparrows. No flowers having appeared on the primroses, owing to then- former robberies, the 
tormentors now attacked the crowns of the plants, tearing out the young shoots. 
“ March 6, 1881. Violets, both white and purple, scattered about on the paths, having been out oil and 
a- — “ ~ »• •' ‘ 
. A is the local name given in country districts in Sussex to a hashet constructed of aide strips of white wood (usually willow 
with a handle of ash), and employed, for the most part, for gardening or farming purposes. 
