( 481 )- 



iiiiticeable that the southern birds are lighter above, the back haviiifj hardly any 

 iir no chestnut, the light stripes being buff, and the edges to the quills paler, 

 more buff or sandy ; while northern birds have the outside of the wings darker, 

 more brown, and the back generally more chestnut, or in the cases of pure-bred 

 liispan.iolensis, more black-and-white. 



The question now arises, how to name Algerian Sparrows. Ornithologists are 

 accustomed to put a name to their specimens, and in fact this seems to be the 

 Ijighest ambition of some collectors and museum officials. To us it is of little 

 importance comi)ared with the establishment of facts like those just now explained. 

 At the same time the question should be discussed, as it is sure to be raised. The 

 North Algerian House-sparrow with a grey head should be called Passer domesticm 

 tinqitanus Loche (LS67). Loche enumerated four Sparrows for Algeria: 

 1'. domestic us ^ fiiigitaniis, hispaulolensis, and italiae. His domestictis he described 

 as having a blue-grey crown, tingitanus with a dark brownish grey crown (" gris 

 brunatre fonce "), liispaniolcnsis with a chestnut crown and striped sides, and 

 " italiae " — by which name he evidently meant the southern hybrids — with a 

 chestnut crown and no stripes on the sides. His name timjitanns (ex Bonaparte, 

 nomen nudum) evidently refers to males with the brownish edges to the feathers 

 of the crown not worn oif, the latter becoming pure bluish-grey only when worn. 



Therefore in Northern Algeria we have P. domesticiis tingitanus and 

 P. /lisjjfiniolensis hispaniolensis, with hybrids between the two. The southern 

 birds, on the other hand, are a nomenclatorial puzzle. Our rules of nomenclature 

 — now almost universally adopted, with the exception of a number of British 

 and a few other ornithologists — provide for genera, species, and subspecies, but of 

 course not for a bastard race "in the making." As we have said before, the 

 series of southern birds (Touggourt, El Oued, etc.) is, without exception, pale 

 and separable from the northern birds, while those from Biskra and El Kaatara 

 also agree better with the southern ones, but are sometimes intermediate. The 

 i\&me6, tliicltigeri, ahascer {hoi]i oi 1904, and both printed on the same page, but 

 jlilckigeri fortunately standing first), and bcrgcri, refer to the southern race, at 

 least this is absolutely certain with jii-lckigcri and hergcri, while from Marrakesh, 

 the typical locality of ahasser, a series is not available. One might therefore call 

 the race of the southern oases '' forma hybrida JfAckigeri.'''' It is remarkable, 

 however, that those birds which we may call pure liispnuioleitsis from the south 

 are also paler, while, as we have said above, none of our southern birds can 

 be called absolutely pure grey-headed House-sparrows. 



To illustrate our observations, a number of Sparrows' heads are figured on 

 I'late XI. (See explanation of plate.) 



Regarding the habits, we may observe that in Biskra, El Kantara, and 

 elsewhere in the south all Sparrows live together, and nest both in the date-palms 

 and on buildings, if they find suitable holes in them. We could not say if in 

 North Algeria the Spanish and the House-sparrow live separately, and whether 

 /'. hispaniolensis has remained true to its nesting in trees, while it is well known 

 tliiit /'. domesticus tinqitaxus (like P. domesticm domesticus) breeds chiefly on 

 buildings, but also frequently in trees. 



We have shot, eighteen miles south of Biskra, at an isolated " Bordj," both 

 typical hisj>nniolcnsis and an almost typical tiiaiitanus with one shot out of the 

 same flock, and both species as well as -hybrids out of the same tree at El Kantara, 

 where they were assembling in the evening. 



