36 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
experiment of hanging their canaries out of the 
window to see if the sparrow would attend to them* 
The kind-hearted little visitor probably thought as 
he saw the collection of cages, ‘What! more birds 
without any worms? Dear! dear! what a sad state 
of things!’ for he went to work to supply them im- 
mediately, visiting first one cage and then another. 
But he always went first to his oldest friend, and 
stayed with him the longest. 
“ People had to be very cautious about watching 
the sparrow while engaged in his charitable work ; 
for if he saw any one near, he would instantly fly 
away. He kept on supplying the little prisoners 
with such delicacies as birds love all through the 
summer and into the autumn, but suddenly his visits 
ceased, and no one could tell whether he had been 
killed or had become tired of ministering to the 
wants of so large and grown-up a family. But what- 
ever the reason may have been, the sparrow was seen 
no more. 
“ The quantity of caterpillars and worms devoured 
by these little creatures is simply marvellous. The 
mouths of the young ones seem to be always open 
for food, and it has been ascertained that they are 
fed no less than thirty-six times in an hour. They 
consume every day one-sixth as much food as the 
weight of their bodies, and if a man should eat in 
