38. passer. 319 



narrow line of white ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and side of neck white, 

 with a narrow hlack line along the upper edge of the ear-coverts ; 

 malar line, throat, and chest black, as also the sides of the breast, 

 these varied with whitish edges to the feathers ; breast and abdo- 

 men whitish ; sides of body ashy, broadly streaked with black centres 

 to the feathers, the lower flanks and thighs browner ; under tail- 

 coverts dull white, with pale brown centres to the feathers ; axil- 

 laries and under wing-coverts dull white, the former slightly tinged 

 with yellow ; quills pale ashy brown below, ashy fulvous along the 

 inner web. Total length 5*7 inches, culmen 0*55, wing 34, tail 2-1, 

 tarsus 0*75. 



Adult female. Different from the male. Above brown, the 

 feathers of the mantle and back edged with whity brown and 

 broadly streaked with black ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts ashy brown ; lesser wing-coverts ashy brown ; median coverts 

 black, edged with white ; remainder of the wings and tail as in the 

 male, but the margin brown instead of chestnut ; head and hind neck 

 ashy brown ; sides of face, ear -coverts, and cheeks also ashy brown, 

 with a small whitish mark below the eye, and a narrow eyebrow of 

 dull whitish ; under surface of body ashy brown, mottled with dusky 

 centres to the feathers ; the lower throat more strongly mottled with 

 blackish ; chin and sides of throat pale creamy buff or buffy white ; 

 abdomen creamy white, with narrow shaft-lines of brown ; the flanks 

 browner, with dusky brown centres ; thighs brown ; axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts dull whitish, with ashy-brown bases. Total 

 length 5*3 inches, culmen 055, wing 3, tail 2*1, tarsus 0*8. 



In winter jrfumar/e the male is much more sandy buff than in 

 summer, the light streaks of the back being creamy buff ; the chest- 

 nut head is obscured by sandy-buff margins to the feathers ; the 

 white of the face obscured by a shade of sandy buff ; the black 

 throat entirely hidden by sandy-whitish tips to the feathers ; wings 

 and tail as in summer, but the light margins much broader, and the 

 white wing-bar obscured by a tinge of sandy buff. 



A good deal of variation in the amount of the black striping on 

 the flanks exists in a large series. 



Hob. Southern Europe and Northern Africa generally. Canary 

 and Cape Verde Islands. Eastwards through Persia to Turkestan 

 and Tarkand, Afghanistan and North-western India, as far as the 

 Etawah district in winter. 



a, b. (S $ ad. sk. El Djern, Tunis, March 1 Salviu-Godman Coll. 

 (O. &)• 



c. 6 ad. sk. Tunis. Gould Coll. 



d, e. 8 ad. ; /. £ Tunis. L. Fraser [C.]. 

 ad. sk. 



g. c? ad. sk. Algeria. Purchased. 



h. $ ad. sk. Cape Verde Islands (Keu- Sharpe Coll. 



lemans). 



i. <5 ad. sk. S. Iago, Cape Verde Gould Coll. 



Islands (C. Darwin). 



k,l. c? 2 ad - sk. Cape Verde Islands. M. A. BouTier [P.]. 



