![H536-410 [tobacco : UK] Hignett Bros & Co. “British Birds & Their Eggs” 38/50](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-01/sparrow.jpg?itok=1xalQ3s9)
This card shows the most popular sighting, the house sparrow, which has actually been the most spotted bird for almost twenty years. The clue is in the name, for this little bird is very sociable and enjoys living near to houses, where he hopes the residents will give him food in some way, either directly on a bird table, or just by digging the garden, and the flowers and plants they grow will also furnish him and his family with insects.
Our handbook, and that of the London Cigarette Card Company, will tell you that this is one of the eighteen sets that was also issued by Ogdens, starting with “A.F.C. Nicknames” in 1933 and going on until the end of cards in 1939. All of the sets were issued in the same year as each other, except our set, which did not appear in an Ogdens livery until 1939.
However there is a nineteenth set that does not appear in our handbook, and, curiously this was issued completely widdershins to our set. That was “Air Raid Precautions”, which Ogdens circulated in 1938 and Hignett not until 1939.