232 PASSER. 



Genus VI. PASSER. 



Bill moderately short and stout, about as broad as high at the nostrils. 

 Nostrils basal, rounded and hidden. Wing rather short but longer than 

 the tail, and, when closed, falls short of the tip of the tail by more than the 

 length of the tarsus ; second, third and fourth primaries nearly equal and 

 the longest, first primary a little shorter and attenuated. Tail nearly square 

 with no portion white. Tarsi and feet stout and the claws curved and 

 strong. Plumage of the sexes generally but not always different ; young 

 like the adult females. Nest bulky and rounded, covered in above and 

 generally hidden in a hole or under some shelter. Eggs usually five in 

 number, whitish, spotted and freckled with dusky brown or grey. 



Type. 



Passer, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 71 (1760) P. domesticus. 



Pyrgitopsis, Bp. Consp. i. p. 510 (1850) P. simplex. 



Auripasser, Bp. t. c. p. 519 P. luteus. 



Salicipasser, Bogd. Tr. N. H. Soc. Kazan, viii. p. 60 



(1879) P. montanus. 



Sorella, Hartl. J. f. O. 1880, p. 221 P. emini. 



Pseudostruthus, Oust. Le Naturaliste, 1890, p. 274. . P. crassirostis. 



The genus Passer comprises about 30 species, of which 19 occur in the 

 Ethiopian Eegion. 13 are confined to that region, and all of these, with the 

 exception of P. diffusus, have a rather restricted range. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a. Mantle mottled with some dark centres to the 

 feathers, 

 ai. Throat black. 

 a". Crown rufous. 



«3. Cheeks, ear-coverts and breast buffy 



yellow .... castanopterus. ^ 3 9- 



&*. No yellow in the plumage. 



a*. Flanks streaked hispaniolensis, 3 , ad. i ; 



6*. Flanks uniform. 



a^. No black patch on hinder part of 



ear-coverts italicB, S , o,d. 2_ 3 ^ 



b^. A black patch on hinder part of 



ear-coverts ... .... montanus. 1: 3 '. 



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