PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 159 



After the cautumn moult the feathers of the back and 

 breast have ashj' margins, which are soon abraded. 



Female. — Top of the head to hind-neck, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts sandy-brown ; feathers of back and scapulars pale 

 rufous with blackish inner webs ; wing coverts and quills 

 marked as in the male, but both the ground colour and 

 markings are more dingy and in tone with the hue of the 

 back ; tail pale brown with light edges ; a pale buff stripe 

 over the eye to the nape, with a darker brown stripe below 

 it ; sides of head ashy-brown ; lower plumage ashy-white, 

 darker on the breast. 



Young birds at first resemble the adult female, but the 

 under surface is tinged with buff. 



Bill, of males, generally black in Avinter, horny-brown in 

 summer ; of females ahvays brown ; iris brown ; legs and feet 

 pale brown. 



Length 5 • 7 ; m ing 2 • 9 ; taU 2 • 2 ; tarsus • 7 ; bill from 

 gape '53. 



Distribution. — Ubiquitous in everj' town and village of the 

 Island. The Indian race, which is smaller and lighter than 

 the European form, is found practically throughout the 

 Indian Empire, and extends eastwards to Cochin-China. 



Habits. — The Sparrow in Ceylon sticks as closely as in 

 England to the neighbourhood of man, and OAving to the more 

 open construction of houses in the east is more of a nuisance 

 inside dwellings than its English relative. It is never found 

 far from habitations, except when the paddy crops are ripening, 

 when Avith its usual eye to the main chance it visits the fields 

 and threshing-floors in considerable numbers. It feeds on 

 insects, however, as weU as on grain. It breeds pretty well 

 all the year round, making a large, untidy nest of dry grass, 

 &c., in any hole or ledge, on the inside or outside of a house, 

 on w^hich it sets its fancy. Once it has settled on a nesting 

 site in any dw^elling room or verandah it is most difiicult to 

 dislodge. If the nest is demolished, it will be renewed again 

 and again. It will occasionally build in a thick tree or bush. 

 There are usually four, at times five, eggs. They vary a good 

 deal in size and markings. The ground colour is generally 



