The hedge-sparrow is placed in that group of small birds which includes the robin, the thrushes, and the warblers; it is not a finch. On the other hand, the house-sparrow is a finch, allied to the chaffinch, the goldfinch, and the brambling. It has, like all the finches, a very powerful broad-based beak, and is more than a match for bigger birds than itself. It is really a parasite or “commensal” (messmate) of man, living and flourishing entirely by helping itself to the grain and the young buds of shrubs grown by man, and in towns to the waste fragments of his food and the grain left in horse-dung. Whether it does any good in the early part of the year by eating grubs seems to be doubtful, but the conclusion is justified that it does more harm than good, especially as it drives away other small birds which are exclusively insectivorous. It has gone with European man to all temperate climates. There are Spanish, African, Italian and Indian species, closely related to the common house-sparrow, which I should like to see put out side by side with it and some of its varieties for the public edification in the Natural History Museum. These are the true “sparrows,” and should be compared side by side with the hedge-sparrow, and the differences pointed out. There is another true sparrow in England, called the “tree-sparrow,” which is not nearly so common as the house-sparrow. They are, however, so closely allied to one another that hybrids have been produced between the two. On the other hand, the hedge-sparrow is a great deal too remote from the finches to interbreed with the house-sparrow or any other of the finch group. There ought to be a careful report on the probable effects, in every direction, of a great destruction of house-sparrows before any very drastic measures are taken in that direction. The employers of gamekeepers should remember that by destroying owls, hawks, and weasels they may not only enable small injurious birds to flourish in excess, but that they may encourage disease and weakness in the game-birds which they so eagerly desire to multiply, since the natural extermination of weakly birds by birds and animals of prey is put an end to when the latter are abolished. In all such matters more knowledge is needed, and reasonable people will not take irretrievable action until they have taken the trouble to obtain thorough knowledge. It is a curious fact that though the house-sparrow does not naturally sing, yet hand-reared house-sparrows have been made, by association with bull-finches, to acquire the song of that bird—a truly astonishing instance of hidden or latent capacity.