256 
ERINGILLlDiE. 
1841, he ff got a singularly deformed female sparrow, in which the 
upper mandible is slightly twisted to one side, the lower one nearly 
two inches long, and turned down like that of a curlew : the bird 
was seen to feed by laying the side of its head to the ground.” 
These birds are very common in the island of Rathlin,* and in 
August, 1845, several were observed about the round tower, and 
neighbouring cottages in Tory Island. f Sir ¥m. Jardine and 
Mr. Macgillivray say nothing of the scarcity of sparrows in any 
part of the mainland of Scotland, but about Aberarder, Inver- 
ness-shire, none came under my notice in September, 1842, though 
there are numerous corn-fields and cottages in the valley, nor were 
they observed about Ballochmorrie, in Ayr-shire, in October of 
the following year, but I am told that they do sometimes appear 
there — in both localities their place was supplied by chaffinches. 
They are said to be numerously dispersed throughout Shetland 
and Orkney. J 
On account of the propensities alluded to, sparrows are perhaps 
the most amusing of our small common birds ; but all bounds of 
propriety seem to be set at nought, when quite out of character 
with the scene, they, so begrimed, squat, chatter, and take up 
their abode on the stupendous cathedral of St. Paul's in London, 
beneath whose canopy, the ashes of the mightiest only among 
ourselves find a domeiile. 
The Bishop of Norwich, in his Pamiliar History of Birds, 
treats very pleasantly of the sparrow, as Mr. Knapp also does in 
the Journal of a Naturalist. In the Recreations of Christopher 
North, a most ludicrous account of it will be found (vol. i. p. 45). 
Bewick too, waxes warm and eloquent in its defence, against the 
sweeping denunciation of Buffon. 
The Tree or Mountain Sparrow . {Fringilla montana) appears in 
Templeton’s Catalogue of Irish Vertebrate Animals “ as a doubtful 
native ; ” but to my ornithological friends and myself is quite un- 
known. The species is only partially distributed in England, (Yarr.) 
and has not been found in Scotland (Jard. ; Macg.). 
* Dr. J. D. Marshall. f Mr. Hyndman. 
t Dunn’s Ornith. Guide to Ork. and Shet. p. 80. 
