90 
r.TMT?T?OW. 
ing four eggs; and on the 22nd. of the following February 
one was observed building its nest in the spout of the school¬ 
room at the same place, by Robert John Bell, Esq., of 
Mickleover House, near Derby. Sometimes, and not very 
rarely, I believe, even four broods have been known to be 
produced in the same year. The young birds often come 
abroad before they are well able to provide by effective flight 
for their security, and thus individuals are frequently either 
pushed accidentally from the nests, or lose their footing and 
totter over, falling to the ground. Almost as soon as they 
are partially able to take care of themselves, they are 
attended by the male alone, and the female prepares again 
for a new family. As soon as the nest is ready, the first 
brood are left to themselves, but they still remain about the 
premises, roosting at night with other individuals either 
older or younger. The male birds, while the hen is sittings 
roost somewhere in the neighbourhood. When the young 
are abroad and fed by the old ones, the latter carry them¬ 
selves in an erect manner, with a sort of pride in their 
deportment, and the former testify their wishes with a 
quivering of the wings and a constant chirping. 
The first set of eggs generally consists of five or six. 
They are dull light grey, or greyish white, much spotted 
and streaked all over with ash-colour and dusky brown, 
varying much in appearance, though preserving for the most 
part, a general resemblance. They also differ very frequently 
and very much in size and shape. 
The Sparrow is a stout thick-set bird. Male; length, a 
little over six inches to six and a quarter; bill, bluish lead- 
colour. From its base, which is yellowish in winter, a black 
streak runs backwards to the eye. Iris, hazel, that is, dark 
brown; the space in front of it has the feathers tipped with 
grey, as are those which compose a line under the eye, and 
one of a deep chesnut brown over it, which latter is 
terminated behind by a small white dot. From the eye a 
broad band of chesnut brown runs down each side of the 
neck, meeting together behind. Head on the crown, fine 
bluish grey in the summer, but more dull, by the tips of 
the feathers being faded, in the autumn and winter; neck 
on the sides, greyish white, fading into yellowish grey, on 
the front black, many of the feathers tipped with grey; nape,, 
fine dark rufous brown. Chin and throat, deep black, but 
many of the feathers are tipped with grey in the autumn 
