THE COMMON SPARROW. 149 
We have no bird, I believe, more generally known, 
thought of, or mentioned with greater indifference, per- 
haps contempt, than the common sparrow (fringilla do- 
mestica), “ that sitteth alone on the house-top ; ” yet it 
is an animal that nature seems to have endowed with 
peculiar characteristics, having ordained for it a very 
marked provision, manifested in its increase and main- 
tenance, notwithstanding the hostile attacks to which it 
is exposed. A dispensation that exists throughout 
creation is brought more immediately to our notice by 
the domestic habits of this bird. The natural tendency 
that the sparrow has to increase will often enable one 
pair of birds to bring up fourteen or more young ones 
in the season. They build in places of perfect security 
from the plunder of larger birds and vermin. Their 
art and ingenuity in commonly attaching their nests be- 
neath that of the rook, high in the elm, a bird whose 
habits are perfectly dissimilar, and with which they 
have no association whatever, making use of their 
structure only for a defence to which no other bird re- 
sorts, manifest their anxiety and contrivance for the 
safety of their broods. With peculiar perseverance and 
boldness, they forage and provide for themselves and 
their offspring ; will filch grain from the trough of the 
pig, or contend for its food with the gigantic turkey; 
and, if scared away, their fears are those of a moment, 
as they quickly return to their plunder ; and they roost 
protected from all the injuries of weather. These cir- 
cumstances tend greatly to increase the race, and in 
some seasons their numbers in our corn-fields towards 
autumn are prodigious ; and did not events counteract 
the increase of this army of plunderers, the larger por- 
tion of our bread corn would be consumed by them. 
But their reduction is as rapidly accomplished as their 
increase, their love of association bringing upon them 
a destruction, which a contrary habit would not tempt. 
They roost in troops in our ricks* in the ivy on the wall, 
&c., and are captured by the net : they cluster on the 
bush, or crowd on the chaff by the barn-door, and are 
shot by dozens at a time, or will rush in numbers, one 
following another, into the trap. These and various 
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