290 PASSER 



Hdb. Europe generally, except in Italy, where it is replaced 

 by P. italice ; Asia Minor, and across Siberia, following the 

 post roads ; Persia, India east to Cochin-China, and Ceylon, 

 where it is smaller and paler (P. indicus auctt.) ; N. 

 Africa. 



It has been introduced into distant countries as it possibly 

 was into Europe, and has made itself quite at home in New 

 Zealand and the United States, where it is by no means an 

 unmixed blessing. 



Eminently gregarious in its habits it is able to adapt itself 

 almost anywhere, and is as much at home in a smoky manu- 

 facturing town as it is in the country. It is very omnivorous in 

 its tastes and will feed on almost anything, grain, seed, insects,. 

 fruit, refuse cast out of the kitchen, &c., &c., but the young are 

 fed on caterpillars and larvas. Its note is a lively chirp, and it 

 has no regular song. The nest is rather a bulky structure of 

 grass-bents, straw, moss, &c., well lined with feathers or any 

 soft material, and is placed on a branch, in the hole of a tree 

 or wall, amongst ivy, under the eaves of a roof or any other 

 suitable place ; the eggs, usually from 4 to 6 in number, are 

 greyish white more or less marked with grey shell- and brown- 

 ish black or greyish black surface-spots and blotches, in size 

 averaging about 0*88 by 0*61. Two, three, or even four broods- 

 are reared in the season. 



425. ITALIAN SPARROW. 

 PASSER ITALIC. 



Passer italice (Vieill.), Nouv. Diet. xii. p. 199 ; Dresser, iii. p. 585, 

 pi. 176, fig. 2 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 315 ; P. cisalpina 

 (Temm.), Man. d'Orn. p. 351 (1820) ; (Gould), B. of E. iii. pi. 185 ; 

 fig. 2. 



Moineau cisalpin, French ; Passera, Ital. 



ad. (Genoa). Differs from P. domesticns in having the upper parts 

 rather brighter coloured, the cheeks whiter, the entire crown and nape 

 rich chestnut-red, and the under parts rather whiter. Culmen 0'45, 

 wing 3*1, tail 2'45, tarsus 0'78 inch. In the winter the feathers on the 

 crown have dull greyish margins, and the bill is dull yellowish, not b^ck. 

 The female closely resembles the female of P. domes ticus. 



Hob. The mainland of Italy south of the Alps; Corsica; 

 Malta. 



In habits and nidification it resembles P. domesticus. 



