( 246 ).. 

 T. Aidemosyne cantans. 



Aidemofyrte cuiil'im. (Gm.) ; Yerbury, /i/s 1896, p. 27. 

 a^. (J ? ad. Lahej. August 23rd and September 3rd. 

 fl. (J ad. Shaka, N. of Labej. August 29th. 



[Very commou round Laliej aud Shaik Othman. Numbers are caught by 

 boys and sold in Aden, where many of the Indian natives keep large numbers of 

 birds.— A. B. P.] 



8. Hyphantornis galbnla. 



Hyphaiitoriiig ffilliilii (Ri'pp.) ; Yerbury, His 189G. p. 27. 



Lahej. August 11th. 



Lahej. September 9th. 



Lahej. September 1.5th. 



Habil, Wadi Abrain, X.W. of Lahej. September 13th. 



Shaik Othman, September 23rd. 



[Very common wherever trees are found. — A. B. P.] 



9. Passer domesticus. 



Passer domesticus (Linn.) ; Yerbury, Ihis 189G, p. 28 ; Hawker, Ihis 1898, p. 375. 



a—;/". (J. ? ad. et imm. Lahej. September 0th. 



g. h. (J. ? ad. Shaik Othman. September 23rd. 



[Very commou in Lahej and all the towns towards Jimil, but I do not 

 remember seeing it in Dirjaj or Ma'ir, in the Abian Country. In Lahej sparrows 

 are very commou and as bold as their English relatives, feeding about the streets 

 and paths of the town. They breed about the Sultan's palace in the loopholes around 

 the roofs and in the ceilings of passages, which are made of sticks laid across from 

 side to side. As every house has a fiat roof the walls of which are loopholed, 

 they find plenty of nesting places. There were young in the nests when we were 

 there, in August 1899. At Dar Mansur, a very small village of one tower and a 

 few huts, they were numerous ; and as there was uo cultivated ground of any sort 

 in the neighbourhood, merely open sandy desert, I am at a loss to know what they 

 lived on. In the Mimosa belt I saw a flock of sparrows far from any houses or 

 huts, but they seemed quite at home. — A. B. P.] 



10. Passer euchlorus. 



Passer euchlorus (Licht.) ; Y'erbury, Ihi^ 189(3, p. 27. Hawker, lh,f 1898, p. 375. 



a — rf. cJ. ? ad. et imm. Lahej. August 11th. 



e. J ad. Wadi Bana, Abian Country. September 29th. 



/— ^j. (J. 5 ad. Al Khaur, Wadi Hassan, Abian country. October 2nd to 5th. 



As will be seen from the above list there are a fair series of this species in the 

 present collection. Colonel Yerbury makes some interesting remarks on this 

 species, and writes : — " It would be interesting if some one would devote a little 

 time to working out the changes of plumage of males of this species, as males in all 

 stages are to be seen in the flocks : — (i.) a bright canary yellow, with long, pale 

 fawn-coloured, almost white tail ; (ii.) like the former, but wanting the long tail : 

 and (iii.) a form hardly distinguishable from the females. What does this mixing 

 up of forms mean ? — I concluded it to indicate that these birds bred all the year 

 round, and the fact that form i. is rare while form iii. is by far the commonest, may 

 lend some support to this ; or it may mean that the nudes begin to assume the 



