( 44 ) 



I am grateful to my friend Dr. SliuriJC, wbu called my alteutiuu to Professor 

 Onsitalet's descrijitiou of l'xru(l()i<tr"t/(iis, or 1 would most likely have j,'iveii a now 

 >uljsijecitic name to this large form of Afrieau sparrows. 



I mnst add that I'assi'r swaiiisoxi, ditferiug oul}- in its dark ashy grey sides 

 of the head and crown, its rather grey underside and less whitish throat and 

 abdomen from (Hjf'itsHs, mnst be united with the (Ujf'ttsius grouj), and kept as a 

 subspecies of the latter. For those who make bold to separate swainsoni and 

 (lifusui specifically, I'usser goMjonemis will also bo a species in their sense, 

 being the most distinct of all these forms. 



124. Passer diflPusus ugandae Kchw. 



i Kaboa (iJuekulIa), Uganda, 6 ? Fort George, Torn, end iii Ai>ril, Kitima, 

 (ioverument station on the Ituri River, twenty-first day from Fort Bdni, iu Great 

 African Forest, 2a. u. IsO'.i, S Bafwazabangi, on the Ituri River, 2.j. 5. \WM. All 

 these specimens seem to belong to exactly the same form, and, if separable from 

 typical P. (lijf'iaiis. mnst be called /'. (lijf'usus lujumhie Rchw. This form lias 

 been separated by Professor Ueicheuow iu Om. Moimtsbcr., v. YII. \<. I'.iU (December 

 1899), on account of its red-brown back wliich approaches the colouration of the 

 rumj), and its very long wings ; measurements of the latter are not given. The 

 length of the wing I cannot fully ajipreciate. The wings of sixteen skins from 

 Uganda, Uuyoro, Torn, and the Upper Congo region have the wings 78 to 8o 

 in length : six from Natal about 80 to 82 ; one from Nyassalaud 8(3 mm. The 

 more reddish brown back, however, of the Central African birds is distinctly visible, 

 if eom]iared with the (typical) South African birds. 



On the same page Professor lleichenow names the specimens from Maugu in 

 the Togo Hinterland Passer diffnsus thierr>/i, in honour of the energetic collector, 

 Lieutenant Thierry. He informs us tliat they are strikingly pale on the uppersidc. 

 This I find to be the case in some Senegambian skins in the Tring Museum, and 

 they seem also to be smaller, the wings measuring only 79 to f>l mm. The fauna 

 of Senegambia agreeing with the Maugu fauna, the Senegambiau (and Manga) form 

 must, I think, bear the name Passer (Hffa^Ks i/ida/'/s Lesson, 1839. It remain^ 

 to Ije found out whether tiiere is again a darker-coloured race iu (he forest region 

 of West Africa. I have before me, in the Tring Museum, a imde brouglit to 

 Jjuglaud by a palm-oU ship from the West Coast, and one collected by Ussbcr iu 

 Fautee. Both have the wings long (.S3 and S-t mm.), and the former appears very 

 deej) red on the back. Perhaps the sjiarrow collected by me at Loko on the Beiiue, 

 and a series of Niger skins, can throw a light on this ijuestion. if they are 

 dirt'ereut they would have to bear the name occidentalis of Shelley, under which 

 1 recorded them in the Journ. f. Orit. for 1886 p. 58^. 



We would llien Lave in Africa the following forms of sjiarrows of (hi., 

 group :- 



1. Passer (liffusus dij'usus : South Africa. Back rather ashy brown, in sharp 

 contrast to the rump. Generally large. 



2. P.diffmii.s ugandae: Central Africa (Uganda to Congo). Back rufous, not 

 iu such a sharp contrast to the rump (? smaller than No. 1). 



3. P. diffuses occidcHtalis : West African forest region. Deep rufous brown 

 above. Wings rather long. This form is possibly not separable from /'. d. 

 •igrindae, which then would have to be called on-identalis. 



