394 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



Arabs came to our tent, and, gravely sitting down in a row, opened the hoods of 



their burnouses and displayed eight hundred or a thousand sparrow eggs, which 



they arranged in four heaps before them, and remained in their sitting posture 



contemplating them with evident satisfaction. We were rather taken by surprise, 



but reserved the best for our collections, leaving the rest for omelettes." The egg 



of the Spanish sparrow is somewhat smaller than that of the house-sparrow, white 



in ground-colour, blotched and streaked with dark grey. The male has the 



crown and nape dark chestnut ; the back black, streaked with cream-colour ; the 



cheeks and eye-stripe pure white ; the lesser wing-coverts chestnut, tipped with 



white : and the throat and upper breast deep black. The female is dull brown. 



A well-known bird in many parts of South Africa is the Cape 



sparrow (P. diffusus), which takes up its abode near dwelling-houses, 



and reproduces exactly the habits of the European house -sparrow. In some 



districts the Cape sparrows build their nests in low, thorny bushes ; but they are 



equally partial to holes in walls and the eaves of thatched roofs. The nest is a 



large structure loosely put together, consisting of sticks, straws, and feathers lined 



with wool ; the eggs being light green in ground-colour, blotched with brown. 



Having all the pert ways of its European relative, the Cape sparrow is partial to 



corn, but also consumes many insects. The adult male has the crown, throat, and 



breast black; the back of the head and neck brown; the back and rump rufous; 



a white eye-stripe running backwards from above the eye: the wings and tail 



brown : and the lower-parts dirty white. 



The type of this small group of little finches possesses a short, 

 Serin Finches. J l & r r 



hard, conical bill, with the upper mandible slightly exceeding the 



lower; the wings being moderate in length and the tail rather deeply forked. 

 The metatarsus is slender, and scutellate in front, while the toes are small. 

 Yellow usually predominates in the plumage of the serins; the females generally 

 having the flanks much striated with dark brown. Of the nineteen species of 

 serins, sixteen are peculiar to Africa: and of these the greater number are found 

 in the southern portions of that continent. 



The serin finch, which forms the type, ranges through Central and Southern 

 Europe to Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt ; Tristram's serin inhabits Palestine ; 

 while the red-fronted serin is found in the Caucasus and Turkestan. The true 

 serin finch (Serinvs hortidantLs) is partial to orchards and gardens, and is a 

 bright vivacious bird, often to be seen upon the wing, indulging in irregular 

 flights, trilling all the time. Wintering on both sides of the Mediterranean, it is a 

 summer visitor to Central Europe and an occasional visitor to England. Its 

 nest is a neat structure, generally placed at the extremity of a bough 

 composed of vegetable fibres, moss, and fine stems, lined with feathers and some- 

 times a little horsehair. Generally preferring fruit-trees to the beech, oak, or 

 alder, we have seen it nesting in fir-trees in walled gardens. Mr. Dresser gives the 

 following account of its breeding-habits, observing that " the serin finch inhabits 

 the foot of the mountains skirting the plains, but does not appear to affect the 

 plains themselves; nor is it found in the mountains, being there replaced by the 

 eitril finch. It is usually to be met with in the orchards and gardens and in the 

 vineyards, frequently in gardens which are surrounded by houses, in which last 



