238 PASSER INSDLARIS. 



Passer insularis. 



Passer insularis, Sol. and Hartl. P. Z. S. 1881, p. 169, pi. 16 Socotra ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xii. p. 321 (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 257 

 (1896). 



Ad%dt male. Upper parts ashy grey mottled on the upper back with 

 broad black shaft-stripes. Wing mostly dark brown ; lesser-coverts and the 

 scapulars pale cinnamon, the latter partially washed with grey towards the 

 back ; median and greater-coverts and the inner secondaries blackish, the 

 former with white ends and the others with broad cinnamon margins ; 

 remainder of quills with narrow pale brown outer edges and buff inner 

 edges ; axillaries white and the under wing-coverts mottled with white. 

 Tail brown with narrow pale brown margins to the feathers. Sides of head 

 and an obsolete margin to the sides of the forehead white, with a broad 

 black band through the eye from above the gape, bordering the ear-coverts 

 above and behind, and is margined above by a broad cinnamon partial eye- 

 brow extending back from the eye and widening out over the side of the 

 upper neck ; a broad black band from the bill down the centre of the throat ; 

 sides of the crop and body ashy white fading into buff on the centre of the 

 abdomen and the under tail-coverts. Iris brown ; bill black ; tarsi and feet 

 pale brown. Total length 5-9 inches, culmen 0-5, wing 2-9, tail 2-4, tarsus 

 08. Socotra (Grant and Forbes). 



Adult female. Differs in having no black nor cinnamon on the plumage. 

 Upper parts browner ; the white portion of the head as in the male, the 

 remainder and the sides of the neck uniform brown ; a broad band of dusky 

 ash from the bill down the centre of the throat. Total length 5'8 inches, 

 culmen 0-55, wing .30, tail 2-5, tarsus 0-85. 5 , 11. 12. 98. Socotra (Grant 

 and Forbes). 



Young male. Similar to the adult female, from which it differs in being 

 slightly greyer ; the dark stripes on the mantle black ; a rufous shade on 

 the broader pale edges of the wing feathers ; an ill-defined dusky band 

 through the eye and a rufous tinge above it, behind the eye. ^ , juv. 

 11. 12. 98. Socotra (Grant and Forbes). 



The Socotra Sparrow is confined to the island of Socotra. 

 Prof. J. B. Balfour, who discovered the species, found it to 

 be common all over the island. 



Passer hemileucus. 



Passer hemileucus, Grant and Forbes, Bull. Liverpool. Mus. ii. p. 3 



(1900) Ald-el-Kuri Is. 

 Adult male. Very like P. insularis, but of a paler and more faded 

 appearance, less rufous on the wings, less black on the throat and sides of 



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