100 
FKINGILLIDzE. 
upon any harvest-day destroying the corn. Whether or not 
the people had become tired of persecuting the birds I cannot 
say, but from thenceforward the Sparrows were allowed to 
breed without molestation ; and within two years from that 
time the potato crop was excellent, and it has continued so 
ever since, nor do the people complain of a smaller quantity of 
corn than during the time of the persecution. 
]\Iy friend Mr J. T. Eeid, in his interesting “ Art Eambles in 
Shetland,” describes a strange superstition which he heard of in 
l^apa Stour, and which even yet lingers in some districts. It 
appears that the inhabitants of that most picturesque of islands 
used to believe that the beadle of the kirk had the power of 
“ telling ” the Sparrows away so as never to return. On pay- 
ment of a fee, the man would go round the field crying, '' Coosh- 
sh-sh, Hoosh-sh-sh ; awa’ frae dis toon, an’ never come again.” 
Tiie '' sj)arrow-beadle ” is said to be still living in the island, 
though no longer employed in his sparrow-telling capacity. 
Even in the Shetland climate, the House-Sparrow rears two, 
sometimes three broods in the season, food being always abun- 
dant, and the nest being built so substantially as to insure a 
proper height of temperature even during the cutting east winds 
of April and May, when many a youngling of other birds 
perishes for want of warmth during the short absence of the 
parents. I have found eggs as early as the 11th of April, and 
young birds only a few days old as late as the 15th of December. 
AVliat becomes of the birds of the year during the long winter 
nights has often been questioned ; but, after having disturbed 
the midnight slumbers of many scores of Sparrows, I feel no 
hesitation in saying that, as a rule, those individuals which are 
found sleeping in the nest are the owners, while those which 
roost in stacks, barns, cow-sheds, and similar places, are either 
birds of less than a year old, or adults whose nests have been 
destroyed. There can be no doubt that the old birds occupy 
their nests during winter, keeping them in constant repair, and, 
as tlie temperature decreases, adding to the thickness of the 
