82 FK1NGILL1D/E. 



FRINGILLIDM. 



PASSER MONTANUS (Linnaeus*). 



THE TREE-SPARROW. 



Passer montanus. 



PASSER, Brisson-f. Bill hard, strong, somewhat conical but bulging above 

 and below, longer than deep ; upper mandible larger than the lower, edges 

 nearly plain. Nostrils basal, lateral, rounded, almost hidden by projecting and 

 recurved frontal plumes. Grape straight. Wings with the first primary small 

 and attenuated, but distinctly developed, the third or fourth rather the longest, 

 but the second, third and fourth, sometimes even the fifth, are not very unequal. 

 Tail moderate or short, and nearly square. Tarsus stout, nearly as long as the 

 middle toe, scutellate in front, covered at the sides by a single plate. Claws 

 moderately curved, rather short. 



THE numerous species of Sparrows j, some of which are 

 found in almost every part of the Old World, excepting 

 Australasia, are well entitled to generic distinction, but their 

 precise affinity to other groups of Finches is not so clear. 

 Certain systematists indeed would remove them from the 



* Fringilla montana, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 324. 



f Orn. iii. p. 71 (1760). 



:t The word being here used in its technical and limited sense. 



