646 
BIRD-LIFE. 
but no one has ever given a thought to its useful labours 
in the vineyard! Under such circumstances as these 
the most honest creature on earth would be condemned 
as a scamp and a rascal by popular vote ! Let us, then, 
strike a fair balance between the Dr. and Cr. account, 
and to this end examine the life of the Sparrow more 
closely than is usually done. 
Our Sparrow is, amongst birds, what the dog is 
amongst mammals,—the most faithful friend and com¬ 
panion of man. It is found in all parts of the Eastern 
Hemisphere where grain is cultivated, and has lately 
been introduced into America and Australia as a destroyer 
of insect-life! It is true that the Sparrows of China, 
Japan, and Central Africa, are not identical with our 
species, still, with the exception of their bodily difference, 
they are all more or less alike; their powers of intelligence, 
their characters, if one may so term them, are the same. 
All House Sparrows live on the most intimate terms with 
man, sharing with him both board and lodging.* The 
cultivation of grain causes them to frequent such locali¬ 
ties as are not entirely buried in the woods; they prefer 
villages surrounded by farms, but are, nevertheless, very 
common in all large towns. Everywhere they live in 
company with man, and this probably accounts for their 
extraordinary intelligence. 
For its size, the Sparrow is undoubtedly the cleverest 
of all animals. At page 123 I have already alluded to 
the wonderful sharpness and quickness displayed by this 
bird, and need, therefore, say but little more on the 
subject. When one observes this awkward bird,—a bad 
* The so-called Spanish Sparrow (Passer Mspanicus ) has in this respect nothing 
whatever in common with our bird, hut lives quite apart from man, in low swampy 
localities.— Dr. A. E. Prelim . 
