Home › Volumes › Bird Homes › Nests in Buildings, Bridges, Walls, Rocks, Banks, Among Roots, Brush Heaps, and in Holes in the Ground
Northern Raven
It is possible that this sub-species of raven breeds within the United States, although I find no authentic record of its doing so. The bird is blue black, and is about four or five inches longer than the common crow (Corvus americanus).
The nest is usually built on cliffs in more or less inaccessible places, and sometimes in trees; it is composed of "large sticks closely and artistically arranged, with a lining of coarse grasses, sea-weed, and wool" (Davie). 2 to 7 eggs are laid; they are greenish blue, spotted, blotched, and streaked more or less heavily with olive brown. Size--1.90 x 1.27.
English Sparrow: Passer domesticus (Linn.)
This bird of foreign extraction was brought here from England in 1851, and for some years confined itself to the larger cities; since about 1870, however, it has been rapidly spreading, and may be found everywhere, in country and town, throughout the Eastern States; it has even crossed the great plains, and will probably soon be common in the West. The nest is placed either in buildings or trees, more often the former; it is of very irregular size, and of no particular shape, its size and shape depending on the amount of vacant space and the number of broods reared. The breeding season begins almost before winter has gone and lasts till late in the autumn. The eggs are generally whitish, thickly marked with dark gray or olive; sometimes they are plain gray. Size--About .80 x .60.