206 PASSERINE. PASSER. CORYTHUS. 



or chimney, or under the eaves, or among the thatch, in short 

 in any convenient locality at a considerable height. The nest 

 is bulky, composed of straw, grass, leaves, twigs, and the like, 

 with a lining of wool, hair, and feathers. The eggs, from four 

 to six, ten or eleven- twelfths long, and about seven- twelfths 

 in breadth, are greyish- white, marked all over with longitu- 

 dinally oblong spots of pale grey and greyish-black ; but the 

 tints and markings diifer extremely. 



Common Sparrow. Domestic Sparrow. 



Fringilla domestica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 323. Fringilla 

 domestica, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 350. Passer domesticus, 

 House Sparrow, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 340. 



131. PASSER MONT ANUS. MOUNTAIN SPARROW. 



Male with the upper part of the head chestnut-red ; a band 

 over the eye, the auricular feathers, the space before the eye, 

 and the throat black ; the sides of the neck, and a collar on 

 the nape, white ; the back chestnut mixed with black ; two 

 white bands across the wings ; the lower parts whitish. Fe- 

 male with the colours similar, but paler. 



Male, 5 T \, . ., 3, / , T ^, ^, fr. ^ Female, 5j. ^ 



Although common on the Continent, this species is rare in 

 Britain, where it is met with only in some parts of England. 

 Although in its mode of flight and general habits it resembles 

 the common species, it differs in several respects, and espe- 

 cially in nestling, not in houses, but in holes in decayed trees. 



Tree Sparrow. 



Fringilla montana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 234. Fringilla mon- 

 tana, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 354. Passer montanus, Tree 

 Sparrow, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 351. 



GENUS LXVI. CORYTHUS. PINEFINCH. 



Bill short, stout, bulging at the base, conical, acute ; upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line very convex, the sides round- 

 ed, the edges gently ascending at the base, then arched, 

 slightly festooned, with very slight notches, the tip decimate 

 and sharp ; lower mandible with the angle short and wide, 

 the dorsal line slightly convex, the back broad, the sides 

 convex, the edges somewhat inflected, the tip narrow, but ra- 

 ther obtuse. Mouth of moderate width ; tongue short, much 

 compressed, concave above toward the end, which is obtuse ; 

 oesophagus dilated into a large crop ; proventriculus oblong ; 



