The common sparrow is parasitical on man, consequently but rarely found at any distance from human habitations, and it seemed a little strange to find them at home at Stonehenge on the open plain.

They were very active carrying up straws and feathers to the crevices on the trioliths where the massive imposts rest on the upright stones.

I noticed the birds because of their bright appearance: they were lighter coloured than any sparrows I have ever seen, and one cock bird when flying to and fro in the sunlight looked almost white.

I formed the idea that this small colony of about a dozen birds had been long established at that place, and that the change in their colouring was a direct result of the unusual conditions in which they existed, where there was no shade and shelter of trees and bushes, and they were perpetually exposed for generations to the full light of the wide open sky.
On revisiting Stonehenge after an interval of some years I looked for my sparrows and failed to find them.

It was at the breeding-season, when they would have been there had they still existed.