SPARROW. 
87 
requires it. The materials just mentioned, as also any others 
that may meet the requirements of the bird, are variously 
disposed and arranged together, according to circumstances. 
Dove-cotes and pigeon-houses are frequently built in, and the 
same situation is continued to be resorted to, and this even 
when the young have been exposed to misfortune from rain. 
It would appear that trees are built in more from necessity 
than choice, namely, by yearling birds which commence nidi- 
hcation late, by which time convenient places in walls have 
been pre-occupied; or by individuals which from some cause 
or other, had been obliged to give up the latter localities. 
Fewer broods in the year are produced therefore in the case 
of nests in trees, both from their being commenced later in 
the season, and from their requiring naturally more time in 
the construction: they are accordingly better made. Mr. 
Meyer describes one which was handsomely built of moss, 
grass, and lichens, and neatly lined with hair. The entrance 
in these cases is by the side, and the interior is profusely 
lined with feathers. 
The late Dr. Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, in his entertaining 
work so often before referred to, writes, “Then for his nest- 
while other birds must select their own accustomed spots, 
the similar tree or bush, the same materials, etc., the 
Sparrow, like a bird who knows the world, is everywhere at 
home, and ready to establish himself wherever chance may 
happen to place him. If he lives remote from towns and 
cities, and the habitations of man, a tree answers his purpose, 
and a comfortable nest he will there build, with the rare 
addition of an arched top into the bargain, which possibly 
he may have learned from that knowing bird, the Magpie. 
In default of a tree or a house, a chink in a rock or a 
hole in a wall suits him; but after all, the nooks and eaves 
of buildings are his favourite resorts; accordingly in London, 
where he has his choice, he will often select droll places—- 
amidst the carved foliage of some Corinthian column a pro¬ 
jection of straws, with now and then a feather, announces a 
nest in preparation. 
But some London Sparrows aspire still higher, one pair 
having actually built in the Lion’s mouth, over Northumber¬ 
land House, at Charing Cross. A still more extraordinary 
place was pitched upon by a north-country couple:-—A coal 
vessel from Newcastle put into Nairn, in Scotland, and while 
there, two Sparrows were frequently observed to alight on 
