PASSER 161 



Young. Eesemble the female, but the throat is lighter. 



Distribution. South x\frica : on the west coast from Cape Town 

 to Benguela ; eastward to Natal and the Transvaal. The range of 

 this Sparrow in South Africa is, however, by no means general, and 

 there are many districts in which it is never seen. Andersson 

 remarks : " this Sparrow is very abundant all over Damara and 

 Great Namaqualand, and extends as far south as the Cape." 

 Anchieta procured a single specimen in Benguela. I found it quite 

 common on the coast of Little Namaqualand and at Saldanha Bay. 

 At Cape Town it abounds and has become perfectly acclimatised to 

 town life ; in many parts of the Great Karroo it is a common 

 species, as at Prince Albert, but in the fertile country to the south 

 of the Swartzberg Eange it is very scarce, and it has never been 

 heard of in the Knysna District up to the present time, 1898. 

 Mr. Marais' observations agree with those of W. Atmore, who 

 wrote to Layard, that they are " scarce in the Lange Kloof and 

 at George, while at the Knysna there are none at all." Layard 

 remarks : " We found none at Port Elizabeth, (though Mr. 

 Eickard says they are to be met with on the Amsterdam Flats), 

 nor were any to be seen at Van Staden's Eiver or Uitenhage. 

 One pair were noticed at the half-way house between the former 

 place and Grahamstown ; at the latter place they were very scarce, 

 none at Highlands, and a single colony at Table Farm." This 

 species is very common on the Orange Eiver, according to Dr. 

 Bradshaw. In Natal it is absent from the coast districts, but 

 becomes common in Upper Natal, in the neighbourhood of New- 

 castle, and elsewhere. It ranges into the Transvaal and Southern 

 Bechuanaland. Mr. Ayres found many at Spalding's, on Hart 

 Eiver, in February. It is said not to be found in Griqualand East. 



Habits. Notwithstanding Layard's statement that, " The 

 ' Mossie,' like its cousin, the English bird, is essentially a ' cit.', 

 in the country you certainly find him, but never away from human 

 habitations " ; this Sparrow is still to be found living a perfectly 

 wild life, at a great distance from human habitations, in many parts 

 of Little Namaqualand and the Great Karroo desert. Here it 

 affects the neighbourhood of mimosa trees, and appears to flourish 

 in the most dreary and waterless districts, feeding on small seeds 

 and insects and building its nest in some thorny bush or tree. It 

 seems probable that this Sparrow was originally a desert bird, and 

 has comparatively recently changed its habits in certain districts 

 and adapted itself to a town or village life. In autumn and winter 

 11 



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