THE SPARROW. 
101 
quarrels and sanguinary fights. He is great in war, 
particularly that ignoble warfare which may be best 
likened to an Irish row, wherein ten or fifteen rush pell- 
mell together in the branches of a pear-tree, each with a 
war-whoop of his own, while fighting all the rest, and the 
whole body rushing together in a confused heap of birds 
and voices, as if they would sacrifice their blood to the 
last drop. Just as they have converted the highest fork 
of the tree into a Thermopylae, and Xerxes and the Greeks 
are heaped together, beak and claw, the fight suddenly 
ceases, and a few scattered chirps are all that remain of 
the fierce din of battle. These rows chiefly take place 
in spring ; towards the middle of June they have entirely 
ceased ; and the summer and autumn pass tranquilly, 
without a single breach of the peace. 
When on the point of marriage the sparrow's life is 
indeed one of excitement. He has his home to build, 
his bride to protect, and what with the search for food 
and building materials, and the frequent challenges to 
combat to which his love prompts him, beak, claw, and 
wing are kept in great activity. He is by no means 
fastidious in regard to the material of his nest; and, 
like an Arab in the desert, he makes freehold property 
of any spot that suits him, and there determines to build 
his home, and die if necessary in defending it. Every 
variety of size, fabric, and locality enters into the details 
of sparrow nests. If moss and feathers are to be had, 
none know better how to appropriate them, and if these 
comforts are scarce, he weaves together bits of rag, 
straws, wisps of hay, dry grass, and every variety of tex¬ 
tile refuse which finds its way out of doors; sometimes 
