THE



Bvucultural fllbagasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICU LTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. vil. —NO 9. All rights reserved . JULY, 1901.



THE CAPE SPARROW.


Passer arcuatus.


By D. Seth-Smith, M.B.O.U.


The Cape, or Crescent Sparrow inhabits, as the British

Museum Catalogue tells us, “South Africa, eastwards to the

Transvaal and westwards to Benguela.” In its habits it seems to

correspond very closely with our too familiar P. domesticus,

making a large untidy nest either in a tree or under the eaves

of a house, and generally frequenting the abodes of man.

Andersson, quoted in Bayard and Sharpe’s Birds of South Africa,

states: “ This Sparrow is very abundant all over Damara and

Great Namaqua Land, and extends as far south as the Cape,

where, however, it seems a trifle larger than in Damara Land ;

it takes up its abode near to man, and in all its habits exactly

resembles the House Sparrow of Europe.”


The late Dr. Stark, however, in his recently-published

work ou the Birds of South Africa, referring to this species,

remarks, “This Sparrow is still to be found living a perfectly

wild life, at a great distance from human habitations, in main-

parts of Little Namaqualand and the Great Karroo desert. . . .

It seems probable that this Sparrow was originally a desert bird,

and has comparatively recently changed its habits in certain

districts, and adapted itself to a town or village life.”


Mr. A. C. Haagner writes thus in the “Ibis,” for Jan.,

1901, 011 Birds nesting in the Transvaal, “ I also found several

nests of the common Sparrow of this district (Passer arcuatus').

The eggs of these birds are subject to an enormous amount of

variation. I have taken eggs almost black in colour, owing to

the profusion and darkness of the blotches, and others from the

same nest almost white, the blotches being very light in colour

and sparsely distributed. I also found in one of their nests an

unknown egg, presumably that of a Cuckoo (Chrysococcyxcupreus)

which is known locally as the “ Diederic.” The egg was smaller



