Passer domestica, RAY; Le Moineau franc, BUFFON; Der
Haussperling, BECHSTEIN.
Though this and the following species cannot be reckoned among those
that are pleasant in a room, yet I must not omit them on account of
their being easily preserved, and though distinguished neither for their
song nor their colours, yet they make up for the want of these by
agreeable qualities, that many, much more admired, do not possess.
It is almost superfluous to describe a species so well known. The total
length is five inches and three quarters; the beak thick and blue black;
the feet greyish brown; the top of the head and cheeks greyish
ash-coloured with a broad chestnut streak behind the eyes, elsewhere
surrounded with black.
The female differs a good deal, the upper part of the body being greyish
red, spotted with black on the back, and the under part of a dusky
greyish white.
The young males before their first moulting very much resemble their
mothers.
The varieties known here are the white, the yellow, the tawny, the
black, the blue, the ash-coloured, and the streaked.
HABITATION.--In its wild state, it haunts the vicinity of houses; when
confined, it is allowed to range the room.
FOOD.--If, unfortunately, it is too true that the sparrows cause great
injury in ripe fields of wheat, barley, and peas, it must be
acknowledged that they are very useful in our orchards and gardens,
by destroying, in the spring, thousands of insects, on which they
feed their young ones as well as themselves[44]. In the house, they
feed on any kind of food: oats, hemp seed, or rape seed.
BREEDING.--Small openings under the tiles, crevices in walls, empty
martin's nests, are the places they appropriate for breeding, and
they line their nest thickly with feathers. The female has two or
three broods every season, and has from five to seven young ones at a
time.
MODE OF TAKING.--Sparrows are so cunning that it is difficult to
attract them within the net or on lime twigs. They may be caught in
numbers however on the brambles in a field where sheep are kept, by
sticking plenty of bird-lime about them. They may be taken also by
placing a net before those that have retired to cherry trees and
under the tiles to sleep for the night.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The bird-fancier who enjoys seeing several
birds running about the room, will, with pleasure, admit the sparrow
among them, and may amuse himself especially by observing it breed
and produce mules with the hen tree-sparrow. A jar or cup placed in a
corner will serve as their nuptial bed. A male tree-sparrow with a
hen sparrow does not succeed.
The sparrow may be easily taught to go and come at command, by
choosing winter as the time to effect it. It is necessary first to
keep it a month near the window in a large cage supplied with the
best food, such as millet, meal, or white bread soaked in milk. It
will even go there to deposit its eggs if a small box is placed in
the cage, with an opening for it to enter at. Finally, no bird
becomes more familiar, or testifies more attachment to its master.
Its actions are very lively, confiding, and delicate. A soldier, says
Buffon, had a sparrow which followed him every where, and knew him in
the midst of the regiment.