These birds are capable of enduring almost any degree of cold, and but few perish even during the most severe winters. The note of the Sparrow is extremely unpleasing; the young utter the same cry as the parents, and are very noisy while being fed. The female is exceedingly prolific, breeding sometimes thrice during the year. The nest, which is built early in the spring, is little more than a rude heap of straw, sticks, and paper, lined with feathers, and furnished with a kind of lid. Even this slight preparation for her brood is often avoided by the cunning female, who will creep into the nest of a Swallow, there to deposit her eggs; and should she find a brood still occupying it, will at once destroy the helpless young ones, throwing them over the side, to make room for her own offspring, quite regardless of the cries of the unhappy mother. It was once believed that the Swallow would avenge the injury thus inflicted, but this we regard as a fable. The first eggs--generally from five to seven in number--are laid in March; the shell is smooth and delicate, of a dull purplish white, very variously spotted with brown or dark grey. The parents sit by turns on the nest for about thirteen or fourteen days; they feed the young at first with soft insects, and afterwards with corn that has been softened in their crops, until the fledglings are strong enough to eat seeds and various kinds of fruit. A week after the first brood has left the nest preparations are commenced for another, the second batch of eggs being laid within a fortnight of the departure of the first family; and thus they go on producing brood after brood until the end of September. Both parents are much attached to their offspring, and should one of them die, the other will use every effort to supply the wants of the young birds. Selby gives us a remarkable example of their perseverance in this duty. He had observed that a pair of Sparrows continued to carry food until winter was close at hand, and being anxious to discover the reason of such an unusual occurrence, examined the nest, in which he found a young bird whose foot had become entangled, and was in this manner imprisoned, so that the parents, unable to release it, continued to minister to its wants.