PASSER PET RON I A 295- 



and externally margined with isabelline ; lores and upper throat black ; 

 sides of the neck white ; rest of under parts pale, creamy white ; bill 

 black ; legs dull yellowish horn ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'4, wing 3'1, 

 tail 2-5, tarsus 0'85 inch. The female lacks the black on the lores and 

 throat, and is more isabelline in tinge, not grey. In winter the male has 

 the bill whitish at the base, but otherwise brown. 



Hob. Southern Algeria, southern Nubia, N. Kordofan, and 

 Senaar, and the desert between Suakin and Berber. 



In habits it resembles the Tree-sparrow, though it does not 

 frequent trees, but is found in the sand desert along the 

 caravan-roads, and wherever there are wells, and feeds on seeds 

 and insects of various kinds. Its nest, which is placed on the 

 timbers, or in a hole in the wall of a well, is bulky, but firmly 

 constructed of halfa-sterns, dry grass, wool, rags, and feathers, 

 und the eggs, 3 in number, are usually deposited in April and 

 closely resemble those of Passer montanus. 



PETRONIA, Kaup, 1829. 



432. ROCK-SPARROW. 

 PETRONIA STULTA. 



Petronia stalta (Gmel.). Syst. Nat. i. p. 919 (1788) ; Dresser, iii. p. 607, 

 pi. 180, fig. 2 ; Friugilla petronia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 322 (1766) ; 

 Nanm.iv. p. 497, Taf. 116, figs. 3, 4 ; (Gould), B. of E. iii. pi. 186 ; 

 (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 289 ; P. rupestris brevirostris ; 

 Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 620. 



Moineau fou, Soulcie French ; Pardal franpez, Portug. ; 

 Gorrion campesino, C/iilla, Span. ; Passer a lagia, Ital. ; Stein- 

 sperling, German ; Rotmusck, Dutch. 



ad. (Spain). Centre of crown to nape greyish brown, mottled with 

 dull white, sides of crown and ear-coverts warm, dark brown ; supercilium 

 and feathers below the eye buffy white ; upper parts dusty wood-brown, 

 the mantle spotted and blotched with blackish brown and buffy white ; 

 quills dark brown, margined with buffy white ; tail dark brown, narrowly 

 margined with buff, and with large terminal white spots to the feathers ; 

 under parts buffy white, faintly streaked with pale brown ; on the middle 

 of the throat a clear yellow spot ; bill horn -brown, light brown at the base 

 below ; legs light brown; iris brown. Culmen 0*5, wing 3'6, tail 2'15, 

 tarsus 0*75 inch. The female and young resemble the male, but the latter 

 is paler, and lacks the yellow spot on the throat. 



Hob. Central and southern Europe, Algeria, Madeira, and 

 the Canaries ; Asia Minor, and Asia as far east as Mongolia ; 

 N. China, Manchuria, and eastern Siberia. 



