(482) 



The above was written in I'.tlii. In the year 1011 we cnnid not speiul as much 

 time on Sparrows as before. At Boghari we saw (in the hotel-yard) only 

 P. domesticus tingitaiius, and collected fonr Kne males, two hardly showing any 

 black bases on the crown, one so much that the head appeared black with grey 

 margins. At Tilrhemjit one male was a typical fiiii/ifaiixx, the other had a chestnnt 

 )>ateh on the forehead, and the light back of hixpanioleiiiiiif, as well as some 

 lateral stripes. At Ghardaia five males were shot, all without lateral striations, 

 three with grey heads, two with some admixture of chestnnt. True hisjmniolensis 

 were not noticed by us. At Algiers, besides grej'-headed birds, a chestnnt- headed 

 male was shot, but its back is not at all light. 



-!:-'. Passer simplex saharae Rrl. 



We have carefully compared the types of P. simplex from Nubia in the 

 Berlin Museum with our skins, and find that it is unite true that the males from 

 Nubia are darker grey, and somewhat more brownish on the ui)i)er surface, than 

 those from the Tunisian and Algerian Sahara, while the females are more rufeseent. 

 The same difference is obvious in a pair (cotypes) from Nubia in the Riocour 

 Cdllection, received by Riocour in exchange from Lichtenstciii. It must, however, 

 not be fnrgotten that the Nubian specimens are nearly a century old, and that fresh 

 material is highly desirable from Nubia, where all recent explorers failed to come 

 across this bird. The light bill of the Nubian bird, in opposition to a black beak in 

 P. simplex sakaraf, is not a subspecific character, but is the diB'erence between 

 birds shot in autumn and in the breeding season. This is evident from our Tunisian 

 and Algerian skins, and Heuglin described the bill of the old male as black, 

 while the types of Passer simplex, being shot in November, have light bills. 

 The difference in size between the two forms is minnte, if it exists at all. 



This lovely Sparrow inhabits only the regions of the sand-dunes, where it is 

 chiefly seen near wells. Koeuig found it breeding in the wells, but we found nests 

 in trees, like Tristram half a century ago. We saw these 8[>arrows only feeding 

 on the ground. 



They are not found anywhere between Biskra and Tonggourt, nor very near 

 Touggourt to the south. The first time we came across them was at a place about 

 one-fourth of the way to El Oued. Here Hartert found a nest at a height of six 

 feet on a young date-palm on April 4. It was built in the angle where the first 

 leaves were growing, and consisted of straw and hay, lined with some feathers. 



Unfortunately Hilgert, who was walking on the other side of a high dune, and 

 knew nothing of the nest, shot the female. The nest was empty, the birds were 

 evidently still building, and so we did not get the eggs. A similar bad fortune 

 was ours on the way back from El Oued, on April 11, when we found a small hole 

 in one of the stunted, low trees of Ephedra elata. Hilgert tore the stem to pieces 

 with herculean strength, but our disappointment was great when we found only a 

 ready-built nest of the Sparrow, and no eggs. 



Altogether we shot three males and three females. The males had the 

 bill uniform black, iris dark brown, feet very light brown, almost of a brownish 

 flesh-colour. 



In the females the bill is deep brown, almost black, but tlie basal half or 

 two-thirds of the lower and part of the upper mandible are pale horn-brown. 



Wings : males 78-T9-5, females 75-77 mm. 



Dybovvski coHec'ted the Desert Sparrow at El Golea. 



