Small common birds, with generally brown plumage but a distinctive pattern of light and dark feathers on their heads. They are barely mentioned in the histories of Middle-earth, and indeed no sparrow appears directly at all. However, Gandalf says that the eyesight of the Elves was so keen that they could distinguish a sparrow from a finch at a distance of a league. A league is conventionally equivalent to about three miles, so Gandalf was perhaps exaggerating here, though the eyes of the Elves were indeed extraordinarily sharp. Whether an exaggeration or not, his comment shows that sparrows were well known birds in Middle-earth.