FRINGILLID^ PETKONIA 15? 



Genus I. PETRONIA. 



Type. 

 Petronia, Kemp, Syst. Nat. p. 158 (1829) P. petronia. 



Bill strong and somewhat swollen, the culmen slightly curved 

 towards the tip, the edges of the upper mandible turned inwards 

 near the point, the gonys ascending rather abruptly towards the 

 extremity, forming a distinct angle. Nostrils exposed. Wings 

 long (longer than in Passer), falling short of the end of the tail by 

 less than the length of the tarsus. Plumage plain and sparrow- 

 like, but with a large yellow spot in the centre of the lower throat 

 in the South African and some of the other species. 



The genus Petronia contains six species of sparrow-like birds 

 found in South and Central Europe and over the greater part of 

 Asia and Africa. They differ from the true Sparrows in having 

 longer bills and wings. 



They frequent rocky localities, and hence are commonly known 

 as Eock Sparrows, are gregarious in their habits, feed on seeds and 

 insects, and build in holes and crevices of rocks. They lay spotted 

 eggs, which resemble those of the true Sparrows. The sexes differ 

 but slightly in colour. 



Petronia petronella. 



83. Petronia petronella. South African Eock Sparrow. 



Fringilla petronella ? Licht. ; fide Gray, Hand-b. B. ii, p. 84 (1870). 

 Xanthodira flavigularis, Sund. (Efv. K. Vet.-Akad., Fork. Stoclth. 



(1850), p. 98. 

 Petronia petronella, Bp. Consp. i, p. 513 (1850) ; Gurney in Anders- 



son's B. Damara Land p. 186 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. 



Afr. pp. 481, 850 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. xii, p. 297 (1888). 

 Petronia flavigula, Shelley, Ibis (1882), p. 357 ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 19 



(1896). 



Description. Adult male. Above brown, the mantle mottled 

 with black; wing-coverts brown, the middle and greater tipped 



