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THE HEDGE ACCENTOR. 
ACCENTORS. 
One or two examples of the pretty, though sober-plumaged, Accentors, are to be found 
in Europe, that which is best known being the Hedge Accentor, or Hedge Sparrow, as it is 
often, though wrongly, called, as it by no means belongs to the same group of birds. 
The Hedge Accentor is very common through the whole of Europe, and may be heard in 
the gardens, copses, and hedgerows, chanting its pleasing and plaintive melody without dis- 
playing much fear of its auditors. It seems, indeed, to be actually attracted to man, and, in 
spite of the terrible havoc which is made year after year by young bird-nesters among its 
HEDGE SPARROW and ALPINE ACCENTOR . — Accentor modularis and alpinus. 
homes, it always draws near to human habitations as soon as the cold days of autumn com- 
mence, and may be seen flitting about the barns and outhouses in a perfectly unconcerned 
manner. 
It is especially adapted for living among the hedges, as it possesses a singular facility 
in threading its way through the twigs, stems, and branches. It seems equally at home in 
dried brushwood, and may often be seen traversing the interior of a woodpile with perfect 
ease. The nest is one of the earliest to be built, and as it is frequently completed and the eggs 
laid before the genial warmth of spring has induced the green leaves to burst their inclosures, 
it is easily seen, and is the first victim of the neophyte bird-nester, who pounces upon its soft 
mossy walls and delicate blue eggs with exulting eagerness. The more experienced nester, 
however, w ill never touch so easy a prey, caring nothing for eggs which the veriest novice can 
discover. 
The nest is generally placed at a very low elevation, seldom more than two or three feet 
from the ground, and it is rather large in proportion to the size of the bird. The materials of 
which the structure is made are various mosses, wool, and hair, and the eggs are usually five 
in number, of a bright bluish-green color. Sometimes, but very rarely, six eggs are found in 
a single nest. Bird-nesting boys are not the only foes with whom the Hedge Sparrow has to 
contend, for the cuckoo profits by the exposed position of the nest, and lays her eggs in the 
home of the Hedge Sparrow more often than in that of any other bird. There are generally 
