204 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



than the other. On the other hand, however, there is in many 

 respects more affinity between P. domesticus and P. italioi than there 

 is between the latter and P. liispayiiolensis, the colour of the crown 

 being, in fact, the only striking point of difference between the two. 

 Mr. Hartert (Nov. Zool. ix, pp. 331-333) also alludes to this, and 

 indeed unites P. domssticus and P. italia, making the latter a sub- 

 species of the former. In the same article Mr. Hartert makes a 

 subspecies of the Sparrow found in Malta, calling it P. hispaniolensis 

 maltce. 



Herr v. Tschusi has recently gone still further in the subdivision 

 of the Sparrows, making no less than seven different forms of P. his- 

 paniolensis and two of P. italice (Ornithol. Jahrbuch, Februar, 

 1903) ! 



P. domesticus is not uncommon in some parts of Algeria and 

 Marocco. In the former country I have obtained specimens at Biskra, 

 while from Marocco I have examples both from the north and south 

 of the empire. Specimens from Schaf-el-Akab in the north, and 

 from Glaoui in the Atlas Mountains, are fairly typical, while others 

 from the city of Marocco, Tameshlot and Eas-el-Ain show evident 

 signs of hybridism with P. hispaniolensis. Mr. Meade- Waldo also 

 appears to have found many of the Sparrows in the Maroccan Atlas 

 intermediate between P. domesticus and P. hispaniolensis (Ibis, 1903, 

 p. 210). I have no specimens of P. domesticus from Tripoli. 



In the Tunisian Eegency, as I have already said, P. domesticus 

 occurs at present only in the more western districts, in some of 

 which, such as the village of Feriana and its neighbourhood, the 

 species is abundant, and in its breeding and general habits differs 

 in no way from our European bird. The nests I found there were 

 placed in holes in the walls of houses and other buildings, and were 

 composed of the customary mass of straw and dry grasses, plentifully 

 lined with feathers, while the eggs, four to six in number, were of 

 the usual bluish-white colour, speckled with brown surface spots and 

 grey shell-marks. Average measurements 22 X 15 mm. 



