PETBONIA PETRONIA 211 



PETRONIA PETRONIA (Linnseus). 

 ROCK-SPAEEOW. 



Fringilla petronia, Lmn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 322 (1766). 



Petronia petronia, Kaup, Natini. Syst. p. 158 (1829) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



Birds Brit. Mus. xii, p. 289. 

 Petronia rupestris, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 148 (1867). 

 Pyrgita petronia, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 243 ; id. J.J. 0. 1893, p. 62. 

 Petronia stulta, Whitaker, Ibis, 1894, p. 92. 

 Petronia petronia barbara, Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 481. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tatahouine, South Tunisia. 



Above sandy-brown, streaked and spotted with darker brown, the 

 feathers of the back and wings with dark centres and pale buff margins ; a 

 conspicuous pale buff superciliary stripe : tail-feathers dark brown, the two 

 middle pairs slightly and the remaining pairs largely tipped with white on the 

 inner webs ; underparts pale buff, with faint brown streaks, beconaing darker 

 on the flanks, and with a distinct yellow patch on the throat. 



Iris brown ; bill brown, paler below ; feet light brown. 



Total length 6 inches, wing 3-80, culmen -55, tarsus -75. 



Adult female resembles the male, but has the yellow throat patch much 

 less pronounced. 



The Eock-Sparrow is resident and not uncommon in some dis- 

 tricts of Tunisia, but appears to be more or less locally distributed. I 

 have examples from various parts of the Regency, both north and 

 south of the Atlas, and some were procured in districts as far south as 

 Tatahouine and Douirat. From South Marocco I also have specimens 

 which were obtained in the neighbourhood of Glaoui, at 5,000 feet above 

 sea-level. Mr. Dodson, who was collecting for me in Marocco, said he 

 met with the species in no other part of the Empire, and apparently it 

 is not abundant in that country, nor is it at all common, I believe, in 

 Algeria, although Loche includes it among his Algerian birds. 



As its name would imply, P. petronia is a rock-loving bird, being 

 generally found, either in small parties or in pairs, on hill-sides or 

 in the vicinity of rocky ground. Occasionally, however, it is to be 

 found on cultivated land, consorting with Sky-Larks, and I once shot 

 one out of a f^ock of Larks in the middle of a cornfield. The food of 

 the Rock-Sparrow consists chiefly of grain and various kinds of seeds, 

 but it is varied to a considerable extent by an insect diet. The note of 

 this bird is a harsh and monotonous chirp. 



