78 
SPARROW 
The gentleman himself having returned home about nine 
o’clock, he procured a ladder, wherewith he ascended to the 
window, in order to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, 
when he found it to be a Common House Sparrow, busily 
tapping with its beak at one of the low panes. He took 
the little bird in his hand—it offered no resistance—brought 
it down with him, and put it in a cage, where it remained 
all night. On the following morning he took out the bird 
for the purpose of bringing it to me; but supposing it 
unable to fly, from the circumstance of its having allowed 
itself to be taken, he permitted it to leap out of his hand; 
which accomplished, it flew away, and has never since repeated 
its visit.’ 
In the same magazine, pages 2851-2, Mr. William H. 
Tugwell appropriately gives the following remarkable instance 
of sagacity in the Common House Sparrow:—‘This morning,’ 
November 24tli., 1848, ‘it happened that a Sparrow had got 
his head fixed between two tiles, which were placed perpen¬ 
dicularly against a wall in our garden, so as to completely 
prevent its extricating itself, when, on being discovered by 
its companions, several of them, by their united efforts, 
endeavoured to extricate him by laying hold of his head 
with their beaks and flying backwards, but without effecting 
their purpose. Their earnest solicitude for their brother in 
affliction, coupled with the awkwardness of the position, soon 
caused the death of the unfortunate bird. After extricating 
him by means of a pole, I found the head quite bared of 
the feathers, so earnest were his mates in their attempts to 
release him.’ 
So again, ‘An unfortunate Sparrow,’ says Bishop Stanley, 
‘who had also been made prisoner in his own nest, met with 
a very different fate, being actually killed, instead of preserved, 
by the over-zealous kind attentions of his mate. The case 
occurred in the spring of 1818, in Surrey. The pair were 
in search of a place for building their nest; and the male 
bird finding a tempting hole among the tiles of the roof, got i 
into it; unfortunately he became entangled in the broken 
mortar, and could not force his way back. The female saw ] 
his situation, and after flying backwards several times, twit- ; 
tering, and apparently in great distress, attempted to pull 1 
him out. Several birds were attracted by the accident, and 
came fluttering round, but were beaten off by the hen 1 
Sparrow. She then redoubled her own efforts to get him 
