312 FRINGILLIDiE. 



Whole upper plumage including the top of the head cinnamon rufous, 

 the feathers of the mantle streaked with black and tipped with fulvous ; lesser 

 wing coverts cinnamon rufous, the median series white with black bases, form- 

 ing a broad wing bar ; quills blackish brown, edged with ashy brown, the 

 innermost secondaries with pale cinnamon, a pale whitish spot at the base of 

 the primaries forming a speculum, the outer edge near the tip whitish ; upper 

 tail coverts and tail ashy brown ; lores and feathers below the eye blackish, 

 with a few whitish spots ; cheeks and ear coverts pale yellow ; upper edge of 

 ear coverts cinnamon ; chin and throat with a narrow central black patch ; 

 rest of the under surface of the body pale yellow ; the sides of the body and 

 flanks, also the thighs, pale ashy brown ; axillaries and under wing coverts 

 pale sulphur yellow. In winter plumage (male) the chestnut of the upper 

 surface is edged with sandy buff. 



The 'female is light brown above, with a pale supercilium, and wants the 

 black throat ; the under surface is dingy brown. 



Length. 4-5 to 5 inches ; wing 275 to 2-95 ; tail r8 to 1-9 ; tarsus 07 ; 

 culmen 0-45 to 0-5. 



Hab. The Punjab and N.-W. Provinces to the Himalayas, Afghanistan, 

 Cashmere, Sikkim, Assam, and Bhootan. Common at Darjeeling, Mussoorie, 

 and Simla ; also at Peshawar. Recorded also from Shillong and Munipoor. 



Breeds throughout the Himalayas, from Murree to Nepaul, at elevations 

 of from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, during May and June, nesting in holes in trees. 

 Eggs four to six; rather smaller than those of Passer indtcus, and not unlike 

 them in marking. 



836. Passer assimilis, Walden, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) v. 

 p. 218; Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 157; Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 94; Hume 

 and Dav^ Str. F. 1878, p. 407; Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 107; Wardlaw 

 Ramsay, Works Tweed, App. pp. 93, 668 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 350 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 330. The ALLIED HOUSE-SPARROW. 



Male. The whole upper plumage from the nostrils to the rump deep 

 chestnut ; upper tail coverts greyish brown with dark shaft-stripes ; feathers of 

 .the back with the inner webs black at the tip ; lores, feathers round the eye 

 and over the ear coverts brown ; cheeks, ear coverts and sides of the neck 

 pure white ; abroad black streak from the chin over the throat to the upper breast, 

 where it becomes wider ; lower plumage sooty brown ; lesser wing coverts 

 chestnut ; median coverts black, broadly tipped with white ; greater coverts 

 brown, edged with pale rufous and tipped with whitish ; primaries and 

 secondaries dark brown narrowly edged with pale rufescent, the third to the 

 seventh primaries with a broader edge of the same at the base of the outer 

 webs ; tertiaries blackish, edged with chestnut ; tail brown, edged paler. 

 (Oates.) 



