Perching Birds. 
i7 
insectivorous species and is undeserving of protection. In this country it certainly 
drives away and persecutes many useful birds, and it flourishes to such an extent that 
I am informed by Mr. Ashton Jones, our Chief Messenger, that any Warbler or other 
bird which happens to visit our gardens in the Natural History Museum, is at 
once attacked by the Sparrows and either driven off, or killed instantly. 
The House-Sparrow is found throughout the greater part of Europe and Asia, 
as far as Lake Baikal, though the individuals from Asia are certainly smaller and 
brighter in plumage than those of our own islands. In the South of Europe the 
Spanish Sparrow, and in Italy Passer italics, replace our domestic species. 
The sexes differ greatly in colour, and the male Sparrow, when not disfigured by 
the smoke of towns, is really quite a handsome little bird. Like most Finches, he 
gains his summer plumage by the abrasion of the brown edges to the feathers with 
which he is clothed in winter, and as these tips fall off, his spring dress, which is 
hidden beneath, becomes apparent. White varieties of the House-Sparrow are not 
uncommon, and a pair of birds which frequented our gardens at the Natural History 
Museum a few years ago, were noticeable for their white wing-feathers, and this 
peculiarity was reproduced in their young ones. To this day a few birds with a 
more or less marked degree of albinism may be seen in the vicinity, but the white- 
winged birds seem to have gradually died out. The nest of the common Sparrow is 
to be found in all kinds of situations, and the way in which it chokes up water-pipes 
with its untidy structure of grass and straw, is well known to and dreaded by the 
dwellers in our suburbs. Where the hole of a roof or a barn is not available, the 
Sparrow often builds its nest in ivy or even on a tree apart, while in the Natural 
History Museum may be seen a curious example of the bird’s choice, a pair 
having sought the shelter of a large fungus on old Putney Bridge, under which 
they placed their nest. 
The present species is quite different in appearance from 
1HE TREE-SPARROW. the House- Sparrow, being not only a smaller bird, but dis- 
(Passei montanus., tinguished by its chocolate-coloured pate. The sexes are 
alike in colour, and the note is not nearly so harsh 
as that of the Common Sparrow. In the British 
Islands the Tree-Sparrow is always more or less 
local in its habitat, and is principally an in- 
habitant of the Eastern Counties in England and 
Scotland. In Ireland it breeds on the coast of 
Dublin and is increasing in numbers. 
In the autumn the Tree-Sparrow con- 
sults with the House- Sparrow in the stubble- 
fields, and retires to roost with it in the ever- 
greens or ivy-covered trees, where the clamour 
of Sparrows in the evening is so noticeable a The Tree Sparrow. 
2 
