234 PASSER CASTANOPTERUS. 



fZ^. Throat with no black; no black on the 

 head. 

 g^. Crown and upper parts sandy rufous. . simplex, 5 . 

 /i^. Crown and head grey. 

 g^. Smaller; wing 31 to 3-5; bill slighter; 



under parts whiter diffusus. -i i~ / 



h^. Larger ; wing 3-6 ; bill stouter ; under 



parts greyer crassirostris. i i~4~ 



i^. Crown, and often the whole head, neck 



and body dark cinnamon cmini, S , ad. '- -T"^ 



k^. Entire head, neck and breast yellow. 



i^. Mantle cinnamon luteus, 3 , id. 2. fS 



k^. Mantle yellow euchlorus, $ , ad. x r f 



Passer castanopterus. (Pi. 27, fig. i.) 



Passer castanopterus, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xxiv. p. 302 (1855) Somali; 

 Sharps, Cat. B. M. xii. p. 328 (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 265 

 (1896); Lort Phillips, Ibis, 1898, p. 397 Somali; Grant and Eeid, 

 Ibis, 1901, p. 624 Somali. 



Adult male. Forehead, crown, and back of neck uniform pale cinnamon, 

 shading into the dusky grey of the back and upper tail-coverts ; upper back 

 mottled with broad black shaft stripes. Wing with the coverts and 

 scapulars pale cinnamon, the former partially washed with grey ; a few 

 rather indistinct whitish tips to the median coverts, and the outermost 

 greater coverts blackish brown, like the primary coverts and quills, with 

 rufous buff edges, much broader on the inner secondaries. Tail slaty brown 

 with narrow pale brown edges to the feathers. Cheeks, ear-coverts, front 

 ha'f of neck, breast and under tail-coverts yellowish buff; in front of eyes, 

 chin, and a broad central band down the throat black ; crop and sides of 

 the body shaded with ash. " Iris brown ; bill black ; tarsi and feet pale 

 brown" (A. E. Pease). Total length 52 inches, culmen 0-4, wing 2-7, tail 

 2-1, tarsus, 0-65. <? , 16. 1. 97. Somali (Lort Phillips). 



The Berbera Sparrow inhabits Somaliland. 



This species is, up to the present time, known only from 

 the northern portion of Somali, for the locality "Gaboon" 

 on a specimen in the Paris Museum is certainly incorrect. 

 Referring to the type, Speke wrote : " This specimen was 

 shot on the plateau, amongst a large flock," " The plateau " 

 probably refers to the first plateau-land on leaving Berbera. 



J 



