•242 PASSER JAGOENSIS. 



upper parts as in P. domesticus, with the middle back strongly washed with 

 rufous ; cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of throat, under surface of body and under 

 tail-coverts ashy tinted white ; chin and centre of throat black. Iris dark 

 brown ; entire bill brownish yellow or black, probably according to the 

 season ; tarsi and feet pale brown. Total length 5 inches, culmen 0-5, 

 wing 2-6, tail 2-2, tarsus 07. Santiago (type). 



Female. Very similar to that of P. domesticus, but differs in having 

 some white between the eye and nostril, and in the rufous shade on tlie 

 middle back. Total length 5-0 inches, culmen 0'45, wing 2-35, tail 1-8, 

 tarsus 0-7. 



The Santiago Sparrow is confined to the Cape Verde 

 Islands. 



It inhabits all the islands of this group. The type was 

 discovered by Darwin during his voyage in the " Beagle." 

 On the label of a specimen of this species in the Brussels 

 Museum, was written " Senegal," to which Temminck added 

 "Passer erythrophrys" a name which Bonaparte published in 

 1850. Bolle, on procuring a specimen in the Cape Verde 

 Islands, re-named it P. hansmanni, and a fourth name, 

 P. hrancoensis, has been applied to a female example from 

 Branco Island by M, Oiistalet. 



With regard to the habits of this Sparrow I cannot do 

 better than quote from Captain Boyd Alexander's notes on his 

 Expedition to the Cape Verde Islands. While on a visit to the 

 Governor-General, Senor Serpo Pinto, at Praya, the capital 

 of Santiago, he observed a few individuals of Passer jagoensis, 

 which, like the town members of the House-Sparrow, fre- 

 quented the vicinity of houses. On his approach they used 

 to get up and fly to the young trees that line the street and 

 there scrape their beaks after their meals, uttering now and 

 again chirping notes that reminded him very much of those of 

 our Pied Wagtail. He further remarks : " We observed large 

 flocks in the valley and on the plains, and especially near the 

 sea. These were chiefly composed of immature birds, the 

 males showing a slight indication of the black patch on the 



