62 BRITISH BIEDS. 



Genus PASSER. 



The genus Passer is another of the genera of Brisson which are addi- 

 tional to those of Linnaeus, and have been so universally adopted that 

 an exception to the rules of the Stricklandian Code had to be made in their 

 favour. It was, however, so clumsily done that, according to the letter 

 of the law as it stands, the genera additional to those of Linnaeus of all 

 the other contemporaries of the great Swede are equally admissible. 

 Linnaeus included the Sparrows in his genus Fringilla ; and as Brisson 

 called the Chaffinch Passer fringilla, that bird has been accepted as the 

 type. Brisson' s genus Passer, which he established in 1760 (' Ornitho- 

 logia/ iii. p. 72), is synonymous with the genus Fringilla of Linnaeus, 

 except that he removed the Goldfinches into a new genus which he called 

 Carduelis. The fact that Brisson placed the Sparrow at the head of his 

 genus Passer, though he did not adopt his usual custom and call it Passer 

 passer only, but gave it the trinomial name of Passer passer domesticus, 

 has caused most writers to regard the Sparrow as the type of the genus 

 Passer, thus making it legally additional to, instead of synonymous with, 

 the genus Fringilla of Linnaeus. 



It is not known that there are any structural characters by which the 

 Sparrows may be distinguished from the other genera of Finches. Their 

 principal characteristic is that the general colour of the plumage is brown 

 of different shades, occasionally varied with black and white. The bill 

 resembles very much that of the Rose- Finches, but is somewhat more 

 elongated. 



The Sparrows inhabit the whole of the Old World south of the Arctic 

 circle, with the exception of the Australian Region. One species has been 

 recently introduced into the latter region, as well as into the New World. 

 Wallace includes thirty-four species in this genus, of which seven occur in 

 the Western Palsearctic Region, two of these being residents in the British 

 Islands. 



The Sparrows are essentially birds of the plains. They are practically 

 omnivorous, and possess very little powers of song. They are more or less 

 gregarious in their habits. They build in holes, or form domed nests in 

 trees and bushes ; and their eggs are whitish in ground-colour, profusely 

 spotted with brown 1 of various shades, principally at the large end. 



