SPARROWS NESTING
Most house sparrows are content to build in cavities under the eaves and such places, pack- ing their bits of grass and feathers in to make it snug within, but some years ago we had a pair that chose the junction of two walls at a place where a pipe loops down from the roof gutter, They began by laying dead grass be- tween the pipe and wall and it took a great amount of material to achieve their end. They could, 1 am sure, have built four or five nests in holes with the grass they had to carry. At length, when it was all piled up, they produced a nest like the tree sparrow's. The nest had a hole at the side and a feathered entry. A brood was raised. In the process of time the nest became very untidy and the wind took a hand so that bits were always falling on the ground beneath. When the young were fledged, 1 destroyed the nest and they made no attempt to build again or return the following year, but the other day I saw another pair of spar- roWs bringing dead grass to the same place, and have since reached through the window to remove it, remembering the mess we had before. Birds, like humans, have an eye for a site for building a house.
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