THE HEDGE-SPARROW. 
147 
In Macbeth (Act i. Sc. 2), and Midsummer Night's 
Dream (Act iii. Sc. 1), the sparrow is mentioned ; and the 
following passage in Henry 1 V. will doubtless be remem¬ 
bered by all readers of Shakespeare’s Plays :— 
“ Falstaff. . . . . “ That sprightly Scot of Scots, 
Douglas, that runs o’ horseback up a hill perpendicular. 
P. Henry. He that rides at high speed, and with his 
pistol kills a sparrow flying. 
Falstaff. You have hit it. 
P. Henry. So did he never the sparrow.”— Henry IV. 
Part I. Act ii. Sc. 4. 
The PYol in King Lear reminds us that it is in the 
hedge-sparrow’s nest that the Cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus) 
frequently deposits her egg :— 
“ For you know, nuncle, the hedge-sparrow fed the 
cuckoo so long, that it had its head bit off by its young.” 
—King Lear , Act i. Sc. 4. 
Mr. Guest, in adopting the reading of the first folio, 
observes {Phil. Pro., i. 280) that “ in the dialects of the 
North-western counties, formerly it was sometimes used 
for its. So in the passage just quoted we have ‘For you 
know,’ &c., ‘ that its had it head bit off by it young ;’ that 
is, that it has had its head, not that it had its head, as the 
modern editors give the passage, after the second folio.” 
“ So likewise, long before its was generally received, we 
have it self commonly printed in two words, evidently 
