SPAKEOW. 
77 
and anxiety, lest tlie drama should be incomplete, by the 
flying away of the mother, and the desertion of the child; 
but no, Nature’s inculcated ways on these points are perfect 
and all-sufficient, as most beautifully this case proves, for 
although each new proposal seemed to be blasted in the 
carrying out, at length the intelligent creature, after con¬ 
sidering for a moment, flies away, returns with a stout straw 
in its beak, and rests for a few seconds on the edge; then 
conceive my delight, when the little nestling, after a chirp 
or two from its mother, learning no doubt the particulars 
of the project, climbs to the farthest end of the bar, next 
the ground, receives the proffered straw in its beak, and is 
raised, to my breathless and unspeakable astonishment, to 
the earth, on which its now delighted mother stands. ’ 
In the ‘Yorkshire Gazette,’ of August the 16th., 1851, there 
is the following account of a Sparrow which had been taken 
young and kept alive at a house at Kipon:—‘It grew ex¬ 
ceedingly familiar, following Mrs. Jones or her daughter about 
the house, perching on their shoulders, and at night taking 
its rest either on the top of the Canary-bird’s cage, or the 
old clock. Since the present warm weather set in, it has 
generally taken flight, and remained out all night, but early 
in the morning it is to be seen ready to enter the house. 
Should the front door not be open, it flies round to the 
back one, and if there disappointed, flutters and taps its neb 
against the window. We are informed that when the doors 
are open this little bird will visit the house about six times 
a day for food.’ 
Again, in the ‘Zoologist,’ pages 1298-1299, occurs the fol¬ 
lowing, communicated by Mr. George Lawson, of Hawkhill, 
near Dundee:—‘One evening, about eight o’clock, I forget at 
what season of the year, but it was quite dark, a loud 
tapping was heard upon the panes of one of the windows of 
a room in which there was no light. The room was on the 
first floor of the building. There were but two persons, and 
both of these ladies, in the house at the time, and they 
were afraid to enter the room to trace the cause of the 
annoyance. The window looked into the garden, which lay 
on the south side of the house; and serious apprehensions of 
a robbery being entertained, one of the ladies, after locking 
the door of the room, ventured to enter the garden from 
the ground floor; but on looking to the window nothing 
could be discovered; the tapping noise however continued. 
