PASSER. 239 



He found three nests in August, built on the tops of acacia trees 

 growing in the water. The nest resembles that of P. domesticm, 

 and the eggs do not differ in colour from those of that species. 

 They measure about *69 by '51. 



778. Passer hispaniolensis. The Spanish Sparrow. 



Fringilla hispaniolensis, Temm. Man. cPOrn. ed. 2, p. 353 (1820). 



Fringilla salicicola, Vieill, Faune Franc, p. 417 (1828). 



Pyrgita salicaria, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. S," N. Am. p. 30 (1838). 



Passer salicaria {Bonap.), Bh/tli, Cat. p. 119. 



Passer salicicola {Vieill.), Horsf. fy M. Cat. ii, p. 501 : Jerd. B. I. 



ii, p. 364 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 209 ; Scully, S. F. iv, p. 164. 

 Passer hispaniolensis {Temm.), Hume, Cat. no. 707; Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. xii, p. 317 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 266. 



The Willow Sparrow, Jerd. 



Coloration. Male. After the autumn moult the forehead, crown, 

 nape, and a band behind the ear-coverts are chestnut with creamy- 

 white fringes; sides of the forehead and a small patch behind the 

 eye, forming a disconnected supercilium, dull white; lores and 

 under the eye black ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and sides of the neck 

 white ; chin, throat, and upper breast black with whitish fringes ; 

 lower breast and sides of the body creamy white streaked with 

 black ; abdomen and under tail-coverts creamy white unstreaked ; 

 back black with broad fulvous margins, some of the lateral feathers 

 with the whole outer web fulvous and the iuner black ; lesser 

 wing-coverts chestnut ; median coverts almost entirely white ; 

 greater coverts and quills dark brown, broadly edged with chestnut- 

 brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts fulvous ashy with paler 

 margins ; tail brown, edged with fulvous. In spring and summer 

 the fringes everywhere get worn away and the parts affected 

 become uniform. 



Female. Resembles the female of P. domesticm so closely as to 

 require no separate description. It differs in having a much larger 

 bill and the lower plumage faintly streaked throughout. 



Legs and feet horny brown; soles yellow; iris brown; bill 

 brown, yellow at gape {Hume, December); in summer the bill of 

 the male is black. 



Length about 6 ; tail 2 - 4 ; wing 3*2 ; tarsus *8 ; bill from 

 gape '55. 



Distribution. Sind ; the Punjab ; the northern part of Rajputana 

 down to Sambhar ; the N.W. Provinces and Oudh as far east as 

 Mirzapore. This Sparrow is apparently found throughout the 

 above tracts in the winter months only. It occurs in Kashmir, so 

 far as I have been able to ascertain, both in summer and winter. 

 It extends north to Yarkand, where it breeds. To the west it 

 ranges to Europe and Northern Africa. 



Habits, Sfc. This Sparrow is said by Dr. Scully to frequent reeds, 

 poplar trees, and corn-fields. He states that it breeds in Turkestan 

 in May and June, nesting in trees. 



