(480) 



thousands retire with great noise to the ]ialms on tlie Place de la Republiqne for 

 the ni°:ht. There it is of course imjiossibie to shoot any, but near Mustaplia 

 Snjicrieur, the residential suburb of Algiers, we obtained a few specimens, which 

 show that even here hybridisation takes place, for one male has the crown grey 

 with chestnut centres to the feathers. Near Hammam Meskontine, in North 

 Algeria, we have collected a series, amongst which are several absolutely typiciil, 

 and even uUra-typical Iiixpaniolfrtitis, with enormonsly wide black stripes along tlie 

 sides, others which one might almost call typical doinebticus, showing very little 

 of the black bases to the feathers of the crown characteristic for P. domesticus 

 t/iiffitanns, while others show them greatly enlarged, so that nearly the whole 

 crown is black, and some of the latter distinctly show a strain of liispainolcHsia 

 blood l)y having some black stripes on the sides of the breast. The majority 

 of the males from Hammam Meskontine, however, have the crowns mixed black 

 and grey and chestnut in various degrees, and the sides eitlier uustriped, with 

 indications of stripes only, or with a small amount of stri])ing. 



At Batna, in the Southern Atlas range, we shot the purest P. domcuticiis 

 tinqitanus S, with a bluish grey crown and no lateral stripes ; another male which, 

 though the striping is somewhat sparse, one might call hispaniolensis, one with an 

 almost black crown ; and another with the crown mixed grey and chestnut. At 

 El Kantara pure /ii.yjaiiioli>i>sis, pure domenticus tingitaims, and a number of evident 

 hybrids were obtained. It was in 19U8, when we came to Biskra, where Sparrows 

 are exceedingly common, that our interest in the Sparrows received the greatest 

 imimlse. 



Mr. Steinbach, who was then staying at Biskra for his health, showed us 

 two Sparrows which he had sent to Professor Reichenow, and which had been 

 returned to him marked as " Passer bergeriT Soon after we received by post 

 No. 3 of the Ornith. Monatsher. vol. xvi., in which Count Zedlitz had described 

 ^'Passer italiae bergeri" Certainly the skins which Mr. Steinbach showed us 

 agreed with Zedlitz's description, but we liad already collected in the same place 

 both typical hispaniolensis and domesticus tingitanus, as well as evident hybrids. 



From that time we have lost no opportunity of collecting Sparrows, and we have 

 now before us a series of 144 Algerian males and '.50 females, the latter, however, 

 being of very little use, as they teach us nothing, for the females of the various 

 forms are hardly distinguishable. 



With regard to P. italiae we must point out that, although some of the bastard 

 forms with chestnut heads and no stripes on the sides are not easy to distinguish 

 from true ifalitie, the latter has the back more chestnut rufous striped with 

 black, and with little bufi" only, while the so-called italiae from Algeria has the 

 back buff, striped with black, with little or no chestnut, therefore much lighter and 

 less rufous. These so-called italiae from N.W. Africa have afterwards been 

 called /f/'''/7V/(V7' and bergeri. Had a series of these liirds been carefully compared 

 with a series from Italy, they could not have been considered to be true italinc. 

 Count Zedlitz, having collected only three skins, could not know that they were 

 a bastard race, and under the circumstances his course — i.e. separating them as a 

 new subspecies of italiae — was not at all unwise, though we now know that it 

 is not right. 



One more fact must be pointed out : 



Comparing 50 males from the southern oases (Touggourt. El Oued, and 

 Gafsa in Tunisia) with an ei|nal number of males from Northern Algeria, it is 



