604 
PASSEE DOMESTICUS. 
in making. The number of eggs varies from three to six or seven ; but I think four is the usual quantum. 
They vary much in colour and marking ; and in the same nest I have found eggs totally differing from one 
another, such as several of a dai’k grey grmmd, thickly speckled and blotched with dark brown, and one, or 
perhaps two, of an almost pure white ground, openly marked with a few large spots of dark brown and inky 
grey ; the usual type is a greenish-white ground, speckled throughout, but chiefly in a zone at the larger end, 
with dark brown and greyish brown. They vary much in size, some measuring as small as 0'75 ineh in length 
by 0’57 in breadth, but the usual dimensions are from 0‘8 to 0'85 by from 0'63 to 0'66. 
Both sexes commonly share in building the nest ; but occasionally it appears to differ as to choice of site. 
My correspondent, Mr. Parker, writes me, in March last, of an incident connected with this peculiarity which 
occurred in the Kurunegala Ecsthouse : — “About three days ago a pair of Sparrows began to build a nest in 
the roof of the verandah. I was surprised at the amount of straw and grass that they wasted, and, while 
enjoying a pipe, determined to watch their proceedings. It was soon evident that the two birds were not of 
one mind with regard to the site for the nest, and that each had selected a separate place. As soon as one bird 
went away in search of straw, the other industriously employed the time in removing to its nest the unprotected 
materials left by the other j and this went on without any intermission, though the birds appeared on the best 
of terms whenever they met. The result is, that after three days the floor is littered with straw that has 
fallen, but neither nest has made the slightest progress ! ” 
Martins’ nests are sometimes taken possession of ; and doubt has been expressed as to whether the biiilding- 
up of their enemy by the rightful owners in revenge for their eviction has ever really taken place ; but in a 
former article I have given indisputable evidence in the matter from the pen of Miss Cockburn, one of the 
most accurate observers of birds in India ; and though the species was not a Martin, yet the habits of these 
birds and Swallows are so similar, that one cannot doubt that they would be capable of treating the intruder 
after the same fashion. 
Illustrative of its generally tame and literally domestie habits is the following racy account by Mr. Hume 
of its nesting in India : — “ If domesticity consists in sitting upon the punkah-ropes all day, chit, chit, chit, 
chittering ceaselessly when a fellow wants to work, banging down in angry conflict with another wretch on the 
table, upsetting the ink and playing ‘ Old Harry ’ with every thing, strewing one’s drawing-room daily with 
straw, feathers, rags, and every conceivable kind of rubbish, in insane attempts to build a nest where no nest 
can be — if, I say, these and fifty similar atrocities constitute domesticity, heaven defend us from this greatly 
lauded virtue, and let us cease to preach to our sons the merits of domestic wives ! 
“ Now everybody does, or ought to, know all about the nidification of Sparrows, that their nests are 
shapeless bundles of straw, grass, rags, wool, or any thing else that they can lay their bills or feet on, thickly 
lined with feathers stuffed into any holes or crevices about houses, huts, walls, old wells, &c. that they can 
find, and even, though rarely, into the centre of some thick bush.” 
The Sparrow, with all his faults (some more alleged than real), displays great attachment for its young. 
An instance of this is given by Professor Bell (Zool. Journ. i. p. 10, 1824), his account being thus rendered 
by Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds’: — “A pair of Sparrows, which had built in a 
thatched roof at Poole, were seen to continue their regular visits to the nest long after the time when the 
young usually take flight. This w'cnt on for some months, till, in the winter, a gentleman, who had all along 
observed them, determined on investigating the case. Mounting a ladder he found one of the young detained 
a prisoner by a piece of string or worsted which formed part of the nest, having become accidentally twisted 
round its leg. Being thus unable to procure its own sustenance, it had been fed by the continued exertions 
of its parents.” The same author cites a parallel instance which “ had been recorded by Graves, who finding 
a nestling Sparrow in like manner entangled by a thread, observed that the parents fed it during the whole 
of the autumn and part of the winter ; but the weather becoming very severe soon after Christmas he disengaged 
it lest its death might ensue. In a day or two it accompanied the old birds, and they continued to feed it 
till the month of March, by which time it may be presumed to have learnt to get its own living.” 
