96 FRINGILLID^. 



The bill of the adult male in the breeding- season is a 

 very dark lead-colour : the irides hazel : lores and a streak 

 under the eyes, black, while just above and in front of 

 each eye is a short streak of white ; top of the head to the 

 nape ashy-grey ; cheeks and anterior ear-coverts greyish- 

 white, j)Osterior ear-coverts black ; behind the eyes a trian- 

 gular patch of rich chestnut-brown passes round the back of 

 the head to the nape, where it joins the corresponding patch 

 on the other side, and thence descends along the sides of the 

 neck ; immediately succeeding this half-collar is another of 

 ashy-grey mixed with chestnut-brown ; the mantle, scapulars 

 and least upj)er wing-coverts are rich chestnut-brown, the 

 feathers of the two first black in the middle with ochreous 

 edges ; the middle wing-coverts dull black, broadly tipped 

 with white so as to form a conspicuous bar ; the greater 

 wing-coverts and remiges dull brownish-black edged more 

 or less broadly with orange-brown ; back dark smoky-grey, 

 passing on the rump into olive-grey; tail-quills dark brown, 

 with lighter edges ; chin* and throat black, bounded by dull 

 white which passes into grey on the breast and subsequently 

 into pale greyish-brown on the belly and flanks, leaving the 

 middle of the former of a dirty white ; lower tail-coverts dull 

 ochreous- white, indistinctly streaked with brown ; lower wing- 

 coverts shining greyish-white : legs, toes and claws, brown. 



remarkable fortress of Konigstein in Saxony, but since that time the species has 

 become familiarized there. So far as the Editor is aware this bird is not known 

 to thrive anywhere away from human habitations, and as above said it keeps 

 extending its area as desert countries are settled by man, being dependent on him 

 for its living. Thus the questions are opened whether it should not be regarded 

 as a parasite throughout the greater part of its present range, and what should 

 be deemed its native country. These are points which never seem to have been 

 discussed, but for all that are none the less worthy of consideration. Gifted 

 with much greater locomotive powers than are the several species of rats and 

 mice which have accompanied man in his wanderings, the advances of the Simrrow 

 are much slower, but perhaps on that account the surer. Of late however man 

 has taken to aiding its progress, and through importation it is now naturalized 

 and become common in many of the large towns of North America, in Bermuda 

 and Cuba, in Mauritius and Reunion, in Australia and New Zealand. In most 

 of these places it will of course oust some of the indigenous species and will most 

 probably in a few years become an intolerable nuisance. 



* Mr. Rowley has a specimen in which the chin is chestnut like the back. 



