On the Occurrence of the Tree S^mrrow in Argyllshire. 197 



and therefore it may not be altogether superfluous should I, in 

 the first place, in a few words, recapitulate the chief points 

 of difference between them, which has already been done on 

 a former occasion by our late Secretary, Dr J. A. Smith.* 

 These, then, are brielly the rather smaller size, and the chest- 

 nut-brown colour of the crown, nape, and hind neck of the 

 tree sparrow, of both sexes, which are nearly alike, as con- 

 trasted with the ashy-grey colour of the same parts, in the 

 male house sparrow (as you will observe from the specimens 

 before you), the presence of two distinct bands of white 

 across the wing of the former, one of w^hich is w^antiiig in the 

 latter, and also the presence of a large black patch on the 

 side of the head below the ear, which is awanting in the 

 more familiar species. In the general colouring of the other 

 parts, the tw^o species are very similar. 



In England, it is general, though local in its distribution, 

 and seems to have been more frequently observed in the 

 eastern and north-eastern counties than in those on the 

 western side of the island. Dresser, however, mentions its 

 occurrence in Dorset and Somerset. In no part of Great 

 Britain does it seem to inhabit towns, with the single 

 exception, perhaps, of Berwick-on-Tweed, as after mentioned. 



In Scotland, to which the present notes are more particu- 

 larly confined, it is only of comparatively recent years that 

 it seems to have been observed ; neither jMacgillivray nor Sir 

 William Jardine having, at the date of the publication of their 

 respective works on " British Birds," known of its existence on 

 this side of the border. According to ^Ir Gray, the first notice 

 of its occurrence in Scotland was given by ]\Ir Don, wdio has 

 recorded it from the mountains of Forfarshire; and somewhat 

 later, a specimen shot in Caithness w^as observed by Mr James 

 Wilson in the collection of Dr Sinclair, of Wick, and men- 

 tioned by the former, in his voyage round the coasts of Scot- 

 land. Since then, the tree sparrow has been noticed in 

 several other parts of Scotland, and has quite established its 

 claim as a Scottish species. Mr Osborne, of Wick, has, as 

 recorded in our Proceedings,-^ again seen it near that town ; 

 and Mr Charles St John, in his pleasant volume, " Xatural 



* Proc. Eo5^ Phys. Soc, ii., p. 69. f Hid., i\., p. 338. 



