THE SPARROWS. 49 



upper edge of the bill being gently curved towards the tip, while 

 the line of the lower mandible is more abrupt. In the species 

 which we have been considering before, the bill is more com- 

 pressed and pointed and not so swollen. 



The introduction of the English Sparrow into America and 

 many of our colonies has greatly widened the area of geo- 

 graphical distribution of the genus Passer, which is, however, 

 essentially a type of the temperate portions of the Old World, 

 Europe alone possessing three distinct species, viz., the 

 House-Sparrow {Passer domes ticus), the Italian Sparrow (P. 

 italic), and the Spanish Sparrow (P. hispaniolensis). Peculiar 

 species occur in Central Asia, Thibet, Sind, and Palestine, but 

 the larger number of the members of the genus Passer are 

 found in Africa, though here the species are of a somewhat 

 different type from the European ones. The Tree-Sparrow (P. 

 montanus), extends throughout the greater part of Europe and 

 Asia, and in many countries it takes the place of the House- 

 Sparrow in the towns. 



I. THE HOUSE-SPARROW. PASSER DOMESTICUS. 



Fringilla domcstica, Linn , S. N., i., p. 323 (1766). 



Passer domesticus, Macg.. Br. B., i., p. 340 (1837) ; Newt. ed. 



Yarr., ii., p. 89 (1876); Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 587, pi. 



176, fig. 1 (1876); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 51 (1SS3) j 



Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. vi. (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. 



Brit. Mus., xii., p. 307 (188S); Saunders, Man., p. 170 



(1889). 



Adult Male. — Above chestnut, streaked with black ; throat 

 black ; lesser wing-coverts uniform chestnut ; crown uniform 

 dark ashy grey ; lower back and rump uniform ashy brown ; 

 sides of neck and a broad superciliary streak deep chestnut ; 

 feathers below the eye black ; ear-coverts and sides of face 

 ashy white, with a little white spot behind the eye ; bill leaden 

 blue ; feet brown ; iris hazel. Total length, 6 inches ; oilmen, 

 o*55; wing, 2-95; tarsus, 075. 



In winter the plumage is duller owing to the ashy brown 

 margins with which the feathers are supplied. These edges 

 gradually wear off and leave the full summer plumage, without 



I. * 



