158 FKINGILLID.E PETRONIA 



with buff; quills dark brown, edged with reddish-brown, the secon- 

 daries slightly tipped with whitish; tail-feathers brown, edged with 

 brownish-white ; crown dark brown ; lores dusky ; eyebrow cream- 

 coloured ; ear-coverts brownish ; cheeks brown ; a streak of dark 

 brown over the ear-coverts ; below brown, a patch of bright yellow 

 in the centre of the lower throat ; the chin, centre of abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts whitish ; axillaries and under wing- coverts pale 

 brown ; under surface of quills dusky, their inner margins grey. 



Iris brown ; bill horn-brown, lighter below ; legs and feet 

 brown. 



Length 6-50 ; wing 3-85 ; tail 2-40 ; tarsus 0-80 ; culmen 0-65. 



Adult female Is somewhat smaller and has the yellow throat- 

 spot smaller and less bright. 



Length 6-25 ; wing 3*55 ; tail 2-35. 



Young. Like the female, but paler; the throat spot hardly 

 visible. 



Distribution. From the neighbourhood of Cape Town to Damara 

 Land, on the west coast ; to the eastward, through Cape Colony and 

 Natal into the Transvaal, ranging as far north as the Zambesi, and 

 across that river into Nyasaland, where it has been obtained by 

 Mr. Whyte at Zomba. 



Habits. Although this Sparrow may be sometimes seen hopping 

 about rocks, it is more frequently to be met with among trees, and 

 especially Euphorbias, from the bark of which it appears to glean a 

 considerable amount of food in the shape of small beetles and other 

 insects. Mr. T. Ayres writes regarding its habits in Mashona- 

 land : "These Sparrows are not uncommon about the Umvuli, 

 frequenting the high trees and feeding much as the Tomtits do, 

 hanging about the outer twigs and eating the young buds, &c. ; as, 

 however, food of all kinds is scarce for birds, this may not be a 

 usual habit. They are now mostly in pairs, and their loud, sparrow- 

 like note, often repeated in the early morning, attracts one's atten- 

 tion to them." 



This species appears to feed very largely on insects, which it 

 finds in crevices of rocks and in the bark of trees. It also eats small 

 seeds of grass and various weeds. It builds a large sparrow-like 

 nest of dry grass and feathers in the hole of a tree or rock, and lays 

 three or four eggs, which resemble those of the Cape Sparrow, but 

 they are slightly larger as a rule, and more sparingly but distinctly 

 spotted with dark, slaty-brown. 



