HOUSE SPARROW. 
209 
INSESSORES. ERIN OIL LIDEE. 
CONIROSTRES. 
HOUSE SPARROW. 
Passer domesticus. 
PLATE LIII. FIGS. III. AND IV. 
Although by no means one of those who would doom 
his whole race to pitiless destruction, the saucy pert old 
Sparrow is no favourite of mine, and there are traits in 
his character which are anything but estimable ; many a 
time have I been sorely tempted to visit some of these 
birds with vengeance, when for days together, and in¬ 
deed the whole summer through, I have seen them 
quietly basking in idleness on a house top, watching the 
progress that my dear little friends the martins were 
making with their clay-built nests, and when all has 
been finished and made snug and complete within, poun- 
ing down upon them with the greatest coolness, and 
usurping the home which another's industry had raised. 
There is a tale told, and it has been revived by Mr. 
Jesse, in which it is stated, that once upon a time the 
martins themselves took summary vengeance upon one 
of these impudent intruders, and mustering in numbers 
to the rescue, walled the usurper in. The Sparrow is, I 
fancy, armed with too powerful a bill to be thus incar¬ 
cerated alive. 
The Sparrow is, no doubt, the most destructive of the 
feathered tribe ; and grievous, indeed, must it be, in some 
instances, to the farmer, to witness the inroads that they 
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