PASSER DOMESTICUS 203 



Total length 5-70 inches, wing 3, cultuen -50, tarsus -75. 



Adult female dull brown, without any rufous colour, and without any 

 black on the throat ; underparts pale greyish-brown, becoming whiter on the 

 abdomen and crissum. 



In winter the bill becomes pale yellowish horn colour. 



As stated iu my notes on Tunisian Birds (Ibis, 1898, p. 132), the 

 Sparrows in some parts of the Eegency are puzzling, owing to the 

 cases of evident hybridism. I have, however, no hesitation in saying 

 that P. hispaniolensis is the common Sparrow of the country, being 

 found generally throughout the whole of the Eegency from north to 

 south and east to west, while P. domesticus, so far as I have been able 

 to ascertain, occurs at present only in the more western districts of 

 Tunisia, whither it has probably spread from Algeria. The railway 

 has no doubt been instrumental in contributing towards this diffusion, 

 and it is not unlikely we shall, at no distant date, find P. domesticus 

 established and quite at home in the town of Tunis and in other places 

 in the east of the Eegency, where at present it appears to be wanting. 



Where the two species P. domesticus and P. hispaniolensis meet 

 they seem to interbreed freely, so much so that in some of the villages 

 of Western Tunisia a bastard race is found, partaking of the characters 

 of both species. Individuals vary greatly in colour, some showing the 

 grey crown of P. domesticus and the heavily striped breast and flanks 

 of P. hispaniolensis, while others have the red crown of the latter and 

 the under-marking of the former, and many are intermediate in 

 plumage. 



With regard to P. italics, I am still unable to state positively that it 

 occurs in Tunisia. Some specimens in my collection from Tunisia 

 certainly resemble this species more than either of the other two, but 

 I cannot affirm that I have yet come across a typical example of 

 P. italicc in any part of the Eegency. 



Baron v. Erianger, in his work on the Tunisian Ornis (J. f. 0. 1899, 

 p. 479), advocates the advisability of specifically vmiting the two red- 

 headed species of Sparrow, P. italicB and P. hispaniolensis, the latter 

 becoming a subspecies of the former under the name of P. italice 

 hispaniolensis. There is naturally considerable similarity between 

 the two, and in certain countries, such as Sicily for instance, forms 

 occur which seem to partake equally of the characters of both species, 

 so much so, indeed, that they cannot well be referred to one more 



