BRITISH BIRDS. 
‘55 
behind each eye ; lhe is alfo much plainer and 
duller in her whole plumage. In whatever coun- 
try the Sparrow is fettled, it is never found in de- 
fert places, or at a diltance from the dwellings of 
man : It does not, like other birds, fhelter itfelf in 
woods and forefts, or feek its fubfiftence in uninha- 
bited plains, but is a refident in towns and villages ; 
it follows fociety, and lives at its expence ; gra- 
naries, barns, court-yards, pigeon-houfes, and in 
fhort all places where grain is fcattered, are its fa- 
vorite reforts. It is furely faying too much of this 
poor profcribed fpecies to fum up its character in 
the words of the Count de BufFon u It is ex- 
u tremely deftrudtive, its plumage is entirely ufe- 
4C lefs, its flefii indifferent food, its notes grating to 
u the ear, and its familiarity and petulance difguft- 
u ing.” But let us not condemn a whole fpecies 
of animals becaufe, in fome inllances, we have 
found them troublefome or inconvenient. Of this 
we are fufiiciently fenfible ; but the ufes to which 
they are fubfervient, in the grand economical dis- 
tribution of nature, we cannot fo eafily afcertain* 
We have already obferved* that, in the definition 
of caterpillars, they are eminently ferviceable to 
vegetation, and in this refpet alone there is rea~ 
fon to fuppofe fufiiciently repay the deftrution 
they may make in the produce of the garden or 
the field. The great table of nature is fpread 
* See introduction. 
