examining; but in the crops the most delicate insect, if there, can be detected.
When first hatched, a sparrow's gizzard is small, but it quickly increases in size, till by the time the bird is half grown—'stump feathered'—it has become a large bag, very different from and much larger than that of an old one. Up to this age, at which nestlings have most food in them, there is no enlarged gullet or crop, and the food goes straight into the gizzard; so this must be examined to find out what young sparrows have been fed with. As the bird becomes feathered, the gizzard becomes smaller and harder; by the time it can fly the gizzard is like that of an old bird. Young sparrows, like old ones, have most food in them towards evening; if taken early in the morning, little will be found in them, A watchmaker's lens answers well to examine the food; with it the skin of the smallest caterpillar can be made out.
Many people have rather hazy notions about the Wild Birds Protection Acts, and some may think that they forbid the killing of sparrows during close time. Now the Act of 1880 states that the section prohibiting the killing or taking of Wild Birds between March 1 and August 1, 'does not apply to the owner or occupier of any land, or to any person authorized by the owner or occupier of any land, killing or taking any wild bird on such land not included in the schedule hereto annexed.' The sparrow is not included in the schedule, and therefore the only protection given by the Act to sparrows is that it forbids killing or taking them on other people's land without leave between March 1 and August 1. The Act of 1881 (to explain that of 1880) simply legalizes the sale of birds legally killed in close time, and puts the lark into the schedule.
Wheat-ear—after the sparrow.
