PASSEE DOMESTICUS. 
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swarming in Cairo, and says that it breeds in Upper Egypt in holes in the mud hanks of the Nile. Further 
east it is locally distributed in Algeria and Morocco, Passer salidcola being, according to Mr. Taylor, the 
Sparrow of the country. On both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar it is common, and is spread similarly 
throughout Spain. In Italy it is partly replaced by an allied species, P. cisalpims-, but in Turkey it is 
common, being the Sparrow of the district round Constantinople. It is spread commonly throughout Central 
and Northern Europe, including Russia, in which empire it is found as far north as Archangel. To the west- 
ward it is generally distributed throughout Finland. In Sweden we learn, from Professor Newton s edition of 
Yarrell, that it follows the settlers into the forest wilds, and the most northern point recorded for it is 
Karesuando ; in Norway it occurs in most of the settlements “along the coast to the Loffodens and Alten, 
but further north it is only occasionally seen. From the same authority we learn that the only places in which 
it does not exist are the Outer Hebrides and the hill-farms in Ayrshire, and that there is also a certain moor- 
land village in Devon, called Shepstor, in which it is never seen. There are, likewise, places in the highlands 
where it is very rare, but everywhere else in Great Britain it is to be found. As regards Ireland it is 
apparently universally distributed throughout the country, although the information concerning it is not so 
full as might be wished. It occurs in Madeira occasionally, according to Mr. Godman, but is not recorded 
from any other of the Atlantic isles. 
Habits . — In common with the Crow, which is an equally familiar feathered citizen in the East, the Sparrow 
is possessed of an extraordinary amount of domesticity and utter disregard of the human dwellers in the 
buildings which afford him shelter. His impudence and assurance are charming, and he by far excels his 
European relations in this respect. If he is not making his nest in your verandah, littering the whole place 
with straw, grass, rags, and a miscellaneous variety of building-materials, he is flying in and out of your 
breakfast-room, where he feasts on the crumbs beneath the table ; and when he cannot supply himself from 
that source, he thinks but little of flying up and levying contributions, after the manner of the Crow, on the 
loaf the moment the Appoo’s back is turned. The Sparrow is seldom seen away from houses, except when 
the corn near villages is in ear; and then he may be found in the paddy-fields, feasting on the grain in common 
with Munias. In England, the hedgerows in early spring are resorted to, and it wanders away from its 
accustomed haunts, returning, however, at nights to roost ; but in Ceylon it is not much found about isolated 
houses in the country, and has not the same opportunity of ruralizing as at home. The males are just as 
pugnacious as they are in colder climes; and during the breeding-season many a good sparrow-fight is carried 
on in the bungalow verandah, several neglected suitors sometimes setting on a coveted female and administering 
a most unmerciful chastisement ; and it is a question whether, in the exciteinent of the fiay, she does not 
receive an equal punishment at the beak of her favoured lord. 
Owing to the open nature of buildings in Ceylon, the Sparrow comes more under human observation than 
he does in Europe, and is often voted a great nuisance ; even the sanctity of the church is not the means of 
repelling his inroads, for he frequently disturbs a congregation by his loud chirpings underneath the tiled roof 
and by flying about in the most casual manner, as if the building were empty and he had a perfect right to do 
as he liked. 
The general habits of the Sparrow are too well known to require recapitulation; and I have merely taken 
up room to say what I have on the subject in order to give my European readers some idea of its behaviour 
in the East. Its diet is both insectivorous and granivorous ; and I have no doubt that the quantity of insects 
which it destroys counterbalances the evil which it is said to do in its attacks on grain. 
Nidiftcation . — As in England so in Ceylon, the Sparrow breeds all the year round ; but the greater numbei of 
nests are built between the months of May and October ; and during this period, in the M estein lovince at 
any rate, August is, I think, the favourite month. The nest is placed anywhere in a building or in a roo 
where there is sufficient cavity or space for its formation ; it sometimes is built in a thickly foliage ime-tree 
near a house, and is then a large structure of grass and straw lined with feathers, the entrance being a ole at 
the side. The natives, who are fond of the Sparrow, often fix an old chatty, pierced with a small hole, on 
their walls for it to nest in ; and the offer thus made does not often seem to be refused, as these earthen 
vessels are just suited for the reception of a large and untidy bundle of straw, such as “ Philip Sparrow ’ delights 
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