Methods are described for the visualization of 20 enzymes from the house sparrow,Passer domesticus,in starch gels and by iso‐electric focussing. Many of the methods are applicable to other avian species. Two samples of sparrows from the east midlands of England have been analysed. The patterns that are manifest in the gels can be ascribed to between 33 and 35 loci, of which the same nine are polymorphic in both samples. The level of heterozygosity in these birds is about 15%, which at first sight is higher than an introduced population in Australia. However, this difference disappears when homologous loci are compare