THIS is an interesting bird, of just sufficient rarity to make its acquisition generally acceptable; while not so uncommon as to fall to the lot of but few to obtain, or to run the risk of extermination itself, SO far as our country at least is concerned. It is also one of peculiarly neat appearance, though altogether destitute of any pretensions to outside shew-'simplex munditüs'— elegantly neat. There are who might borrow a lesson even from the Tree Sparrow, and it is, if they would learn it that they are "when unadorned, adorned the most."

It is indigenous in most countries of Europe, from the Mediterranean, through Spain, Italy, France, and Holland, to Norway and Sweden, and extends also over a considerable portion of Asia, being common, it is said, in Siberia and Lapland, as also in Japan and China, and in some of the mountainous parts of India.

In Yorkshire, and no doubt in other northern counties, it breeds. It is not unfrequent near York, and also in several parts of the West Riding-near Doncaster, Barnsley, Wakefield, and Leeds. In Worcestershire, I have known this species not very unfrequent in the neighbourhood of Broomsgrove; one I remember to have been shot near Charford brook, and others, 'si rite recordor,' were taken on the winter nights in the stacks in which they roosted with various other birds: one appears to have been obtained, and only one, in the county of Cornwall. In Lancashire it has been observed about Chat Moss, and is not uncommon in Shropshire; in Northamptonshire, it has been seen near Aldwinkle, by Mr. Doubleday; in Surrey, by Mr. Meyer; and in Sussex, by A. E. Knox, Esq., who says that it is a scarce bird there, though possibly more frequently overlooked than observed, and that it probably breeds there in some instances, as he has obtained specimens in May and June. It is frequently taken by the bird-catchers on the Downs near Brighton, when in company with other birds.

In

It is likewise met with in the county of Essex, near Southchurch; in Lincolnshire, near Wainfleet, and no doubt in other localities; as also in Suffolk, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Rutlandshire, Cambridgeshire, Durham, and Northumberland, as far north as Newcastle. the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, it is stated by the Messrs. C. J. and James Paget, in their Natural History of that place, to be not uncommon in lanes, and also near the town. John Henry Gurney, and William Richard Fisher, Esqrs., in their "Account of the Birds found in Norfolk," say of them that a few are found in that county, and breed there, remaining throughout the year, and that they are very local in

their habits, except in winter, when they sometimes disperse in search of food.

In Ireland it appears to be unknown, and the same remark applies to the Orkneys. In Scotland it has occurred on Main Wood, near Elgin, but I am not aware of any other record of its having been met with in that part of the kingdom.

It is locally migratory, arriving in Sussex in the month of October, and usually departing again in April.

The Tree Sparrow and the House Sparrow are as different in their habits as Horace's country-bred and town-bred mice. The former shuns the habitations of man, which the latter makes his own, and only approaches even a village, when the severity of the weather renders such an approach necessary through lack of food elsewhere. The hilly and more mountainous districts are the more sought in preference by them, as imported by their specific Latin name, while the others abound in the most level districts. They are sprightly and active birds.

Both old and young birds of this species collect together in flocks with other birds during the winter half of the year, when they frequent, together with them, the usual places of resort for the procuring of food, namely farm-yards, and other situations where it is to be obtained.

Their flight is rather heavy, slow, and strained, as if the wings were not sufficiently equal to the carriage of the body through the air. They often progress along the ground in the same sort of sidelong manner that the Common Sparrow does; and they have also a habit of flirting the tail slightly about, especially when they first alight.

The food of this species consists of insects and the