5 ° 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
a moult. The bill is horny brown in winter and becomes leaden 
blue in summer. 
Adult Female. — Differs from the male in wanting the black 
throat and being altogether browner in colour; the back 
streaked with blackish; over the eye a pale streak; rump 
pale ashy brown; cheeks dingy brown like the ear- coverts. 
Total length, 5'2 inches; culmen, 045; wing, 3-0; tail, 2-2; 
tarsus, o' 7 5 
Young. — Resembles the old female, but is whiter below, 
especially on the throat. 
Range in Great Britain. — Universally distributed. 
Range outride the British Islands. — Generallythroughout Europe, 
“ where grain will grow,” as Mr. Howard Saunders puts it. Re- 
placed in Italy by P. Halite, and in most of the Mediterra- 
nean countries by P. hispaniolensis , though the Common 
Sparrow is often found in the same districts as the latter 
species. The Eastern form of the Sparrow, P indicus, is only 
a smaller and somewhat purer coloured race of our bird, 
which may thus be said to extend eastwards to India and the 
neighbourhood of Lake Baikal. The Sparrow has been now 
introduced into North America, Australia, New Zealand, and 
other countries, to the detriment and, in some cases, the 
extinction of the native birds. 
Hahits. — These are too well-known to require a detailed 
description. Considerable controversy has taken place as to 
the harm done by the sparrows to the farmers, and on this 
point a pamphlet' by Mr. J. H. Gurney, “ On the Misdeeds 
of the House-Sparrow,” may be read with interest, as also an 
excellent monograph of the species written by Mr. Walter B. 
Barrows, and published by the United States Department of 
Agriculture, “ especially as to the relations of the Sparrow to 
agriculture.” Doubtless during the nesting season the Sparrow 
largely feeds its young on insects, and we have seen one shot 
by "our friend Major Wardlaw Ramsay, with its crop perfectly 
full of the Bean Aphis ( Aphis rumicis ), but at other seasons of 
the year it is capable of inflicting great damage, from the amount 
of grain it devours. 
Nest. — A rough structure of grasses and straws, hay, and all 
