SISKINS. 



99 



chosen, and in tliese the nests may be found at 30 feet 

 from the ground, though usually they are a I heights 

 of from 12 to 20 feet; >onietinies K*Miie old stuli is 

 patronised, and then the nest may not 1)C a couple of 

 feet from the ground. On one oica-sion I found a nest 

 in a liole in the stem of an old lieens bush iCapparU 

 aphi/llti), which stem was barely 5 itielie.s in diameter. 



" ITie nest is generally only a little bundle of dry 

 giaaa, thickly lined with feathers. If in a mangrove 

 grove much frc(|uenteil by the t'onunoii (iireii I'iiroquets, 

 the feathers of these latter are sure to l>e tliosc chietly 

 used. Soinotiuies, however, a more or less cup-shaped 

 nest is formed, fine strips of bark and tow i)eing added 

 to the grass; and, again, at limes it is a regular pad 

 of hair, tow, and wool, with a few fe<vthers, all closely 

 interwoven, and with only a little central hollow. 



"I never found more than f<Jiir eggs, often only three 

 fully incubated ones, but more may occur. 



"The eggs are dull and glossless, moderately elon- 

 gated ovals, sometimes pointed towards the little end, 

 sometimes blunt and pyriform. Considerijig how 

 nearly eciual in size the two birds are, it is surprising 

 to fiiid th;it the eggs of this species average in weight 

 little more than half those of P. dumestirus. The 

 ground-colour, where any of it is visible, is greenish 

 white. The eggs arc very thickly .streaked, smudged, 

 and blotched all over with dingy brown, usually more 

 nearly a mi.xture of sepia and chcx-olatebrown than 

 any other shade I can think of. In some eggs the mark- 

 ings are entirely confluent all over, .so as to leave no 

 particle of the ground-colour visible, and in all the 

 eggs I have seen they were so thick as to leave but 

 little of tliis visible. "The very dark dingy appearance 

 of these eggs is their chief characteristic. 



"The eggs vary less in size than those of the House 

 and Tree Sparrows, and are considerably smaller than 

 either. In lenyth they vary from 0.66 to 0.78. and in 

 breadth from 0.52 to 0.56, "but the average of thirty- 

 four eggs is 0.74 by 0.55 nearly." 



Dr. Kuss states that this species has never been im- 

 ported alive into the European market ; but in 1895 

 Mr. Frank Finn presented an e.vample to the London 

 Zoological Ga.ixlens, and it seems likely that the late 

 Mr. Abrahams was acc|uainted with the bird from the 

 fact that he recognised two allied forms in my pos- 

 session as se.xes of the Yellow-throated Sparrow. It is 

 very uidikely that so common an Indian bird would 

 fail to be sometimes imported in liatches of birds from 

 Calcutta. 



Lesser Rock-Sp.\rro\v (ritrotila dcntata). 



Above, generally ruddy mouse-browni, the median 

 and greater wini;-coverts with slightly paler edges: 

 Hights and tail-feathers much darker, but with pale 

 edges ; crown normally dark grey (sometimes dark 

 brown at back and with a broa<l white frontal band) ; 

 lores whitish ; a broad reddish- clay^brown eyebix>w- 

 streak ; chin, upper half of thix)at, brea.st, and under 

 tail-coverts white, shariin^; into pale brown on the 

 sides of the head a.nd throat (sometimes the white runs 

 over on to the front of the face and is limited to 

 the centre of the throat in continuance of tl>e usual 

 palo sulpliur pat^-h on the front of the breastl ; 

 a.l>domen white, faintly washed at the sides with 

 browii ; under wing-coverts mid axillaries aj^hy-brown ; 

 beak dark horn brown, flesh-coloured toward's base of 

 lower mandible ; feet dusky flesh-coloured : irides 

 reddish -brown. Female, according to Vnn Heuglin. 

 more fulvescent. with cheeks, bi-eas-t, and flanks wa.shed 

 with fulvrius, etc., etc.: but he was prob.ablv describ- 

 ing P. (ilbiguJaris, which is neither the female nor the 



yoimg of /'. (h'litaki, as has been supposed. Habitat. 

 N.E. Africa. 



Von Heuglin says that this spccics-s is found in pair* 

 or small tlcxks along the opeiungs in the woodlands 

 or perched on the bushes in the deserts, generally near 

 water, and that the note resembles tliat of our House 

 Sparrow * ; his assertion that the eggs, which he found 

 in a Weaver-bird's ne.'t, where wiute was ba.'^eil upon 

 faulty observation, the eggs which he found having 

 doubtless been laid by the Weaver, certainly not by 

 the iSparrow. 



In 1898 two examples of Pclronia were sent to me 

 by an luiknown friend, which were (incorrectly) pro- 

 nounced by Mr. Abrahams to be sexes of the niur- 

 derous Yellow-throated Sparrow. As I have already 

 ivcor<led {'J'/ir Avirultnrdl Magazhif, N.S., Vol. 1, pp. 

 294-298), 1 turne<l tliis supposed pair into a flight-cage in 

 the comer of which a prepared llartz-cage was hung 

 up, ;uid provided them with nesting-materials and 

 cuttle-lione. They built a veiy neat nest, externally 

 formed of hay, internally lined with feathers and wool ; 

 and, so far as I could judge, since the eggs were hardly 

 ever laid in the nest, but mostly dropjx'd from a peixih, 

 tlie clutch appeared to consist of from five lo six eggs ; 

 as, however, I discoverc^d towards the end of their 

 lives that both birds were laying, it is cpiite pos.sible 

 that three or four niay represent the laying of each 

 individual. 



I had no sooner discovered that my supposed pair 

 consisted of two adult hens than lx>th became egg- 

 bound, and 1'. dcntata (the supposcxl cock-bird) died 

 before it <x)uld be treated ; I pressed out the egg and 

 discovered it to be exactly of the usual type. The 

 other hen (P. alhifiularis) recovered for a time, but 

 1903 saw the end of both of them. 



Of the eggs, which were unknown to science, I only 

 succeeded in saving two, one of which I sent to the 

 Natural History Museum. I described them (The Avi- 

 rultiiral Mai/azine, I.e.) as follows: — "The ground of the 

 egg is greenish-white, more or less thickly dotted with 

 dark brown ; the larger extremitj- is always sooty- 

 blackish, exactly as if it had been held in the smoke 

 of a lamp until well blackened ; the extent of the dull 

 black patch varies somewhat, liut I have not seen one 

 egg without it among tlie many which my birds have 

 broken. In shape they are broad ovals, resembling, 

 Ivcth in outline and general size, those of the Greater 

 AVhitethroat." 



Dr. Russ says : — " This bird is not rare in the trade, 

 but is only imported a few at a time." 'Ihe remainder 

 of his remarks are chiefly abusive ; indeed, he gives 

 the poor Sparrow a very bad character. Undoubtedly 

 my two hens, which were at least representatives of 

 different races, if not species, often quarrelled rather 

 viciously. 



White-thro.\ted Rock-Sparrow 

 (Pelronia alhigularis). 



Very similar to P. dentata. but the crown, back, 

 and sides of neck uniform brown ; eyebrow streak 

 sandy butf ; mantle streaked witli blacki.'ih ; median and 

 greater wing-coverts with pale tips ; flights with broad 

 sandy-brownish borders to the inner webs : the vellow 

 throat .spot ill defined, more diffused than in P. 

 dcntata : aMomen less white. Habitat, X.E. Africa. 



This Sparrow w-as long believed to be the youne of 

 P. dcntata. aaid it is still so regarded in" Captain 

 Shelley's " Bii-ds of Africa," Vol. HI., p. 262; but the 

 fact that I kept the two together for five years, that 

 the supposed young plumage never changed, and that 



• It is, howcjver, decidedly sharper in sound.— A. G. B. 



