THE HOUSE SPARROW. 
651 
position as to render abortive any attempt to rob it. 
Shooting or catching Sparrows can only be pursued for 
a short time with any considerable success, and cases 
have been known where a few out of a flock, having 
managed to escape the clutches of the fowler, have 
remembered the lesson for years after, or have handed 
down their experience, as a tradition, to posterity. 
As a cage-bird the Sparrow is not to be recommended, 
as it cannot, even in an ordinary degree, be tamed. 
