Sparrow

Sparrow (Passer or Pyrgita), a genus of birds of the family Fringillidæ, having a strong conical bill, the upper mandible slightly curved, the lower mandible compressed and shorter than the upper, the nostrils partly concealed by the short feathers at the base of the bill, the legs moderately long and stout, the claws sharp and curved, the tail moderately long, and nearly even at the tip. The species are not very numerous, and are exclusively found in the Old World. The Common Sparrow, or House-sparrow (P. domesticus), is plentiful almost everywhere in the British Islands, its distribution following cultivation even to the Outer Hebrides. It is found also throughout Europe as far as to the Arctic Circle, but not in the Faroes, abounding particularly in the northern countries, from which its range extends eastwards into Siberia, and southwards in Africa to Lake Albert Nyanza, Morocco, and Madeira. A paler variety is found in Siam, Burma, and the Indian region as far west as southern Persia. Of all British birds the sparrow is the boldest in its approaches to man, and it is too well known to require description. Town sparrows are not mere visitors from the neighbouring country, but constant inhabitants of the town itself, with the smoke of which their plumage is begrinned. The sparrow in its best plumage is not a very beautiful bird, nor so elegant in form as many others of the finch tribe; it has no melodious song, but its habits are interesting, and its frequent lively chirp is pleasing. Sparrows often congregate in great flocks, particularly in autumn. The sparrow is one of the most omnivorous of birds, devouring animal and vegetable food indiscriminately, and eating vast numbers of insects and their larvæ during summer. Their depredations on crops have induced many farmers to use means for their destruction. They are good to eat, though little used for this purpose in Britain. It is otherwise in France, where all the small birds are sought after as articles of food. But the destruction of sparrows may be carried too far; and in France it has been followed by an increase of caterpillars, vastly more injurious to crops than the sparrows themselves. Since the young are fed upon caterpillars and insect larvæ, the killing of the fledged young has been recommended as the best method of taking advantage of the usefulness of the sparrow and at the same time checking its autumn ravages among the grain. The sparrow makes a very inartificial nest, collecting a quantity of hay or some similar material, in a hole of a wall, and lining it with feathers; sometimes, but more rarely, building a rude dome-shaped nest in the higher branches of a tree. Apart from the habitations of man, which it so much frequents, it often builds in crevices of rocks, or in cliffs on the seacoast, or under the shelter of the nests of rooks, one rook's nest sometimes covering several nests of sparrows. Several broods are produced in succession, and the breeding season is prolonged over the whole summer, one brood succeeding another. In summer the plumage of the sparrow is more brilliant than in winter, and the female is of more sober plumage than the male, exhibiting indeed almost no variety of colour. In Italy a species, P. italia, is found; and in Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta another species, P. hispaniolus, occurs, which in Spain breeds in the woods, while the common sparrow keeps to the towns. About 1862 the house-sparrow was introduced into the United States, and it has also been acclimatized in Australia and New Zealand, in all which places it has become a great pest. The Tree-sparrow (P. montanus), the only other British species, is very similar to the common sparrow, but of rather smaller size; rarer and more local, but extending in its range, being found in the Hebrides and St Kilda, very sparingly in the south-west of England, and resident in Ireland near Dublin. It is multiplying in the Faroes, and extends beyond the Arctic Circle. It is more abundant in some parts of Europe than the house-sparrow. It visits Egypt and Arabia, and is found in the south of Asia as far as the Philippine Islands and the Malay Peninsula. In Java a variety has developed (P. malaccensis). The White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), an American form, is really a bunting. It has been found in the east of Scotland and the south of England. Other American sparrows have little in common with the genus Passer. The nostrils are in a small groove, and the tail is slightly forked.—The Hedge-sparrow (see WARBLER) is a bird belonging to an entirely different group; and the name sparrow is loosely given to various different birds in various parts of the world. For accounts of the destructiveness of the sparrow, see The House Sparrow, by J. H. Gurney, Russell, and Cones, and Miss Ormerod's Reports.