296 PET RON IA 



In habits it has much in common with P. clomesticus but 

 does not frequent houses, being usually met with in wild rocky 

 localities, less frequently in cultivated places. It feeds in the 

 spring and summer on insects, caterpillars, &c., on which its young 

 are sustained, but in the autumn and winter it feeds on fruit, 

 berries, and seeds of various kinds. On the ground it is more 

 active than the House Sparrow, and is swifter on the wing. 

 Its call-note is harsh, and in the spring it utters a sort of song 

 which is, however, but very poor. It places its nest in holes 

 in the rocks, or ground, or in hollow trees, constructing it of 

 straw, grass-bents, fine roots, wool, hair, and rags, lining it 

 well with feathers. The eggs, 4 to 6 or 7 in number, are 

 deposited in May and June, and so closely resemble those of 

 P. domesticus that they cannot with certainty be distinguished, 

 but are as a rule somewhat larger. 



433. DESERT ROCK-SPARROW. 

 PETRONIA BRACHYDACTYLA. 



Petronia bracJtydactyla, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 513 (1850) ; Tristram. 

 Ibis, 1868, pi. 6 ; Dresser, iii. p. 611, pi. 180, fig. 1 ; Sharpe, Cat, B 

 Br. Mus. xii. p. 292. 



<$ ad. (Persia). Upper parts sandy brown ; under parts white, the 

 throat, breast, and flanks washed with creamy buff ; wings brown, externally 

 margined with pale rufous buff and tipped with creamy white, the wing- 

 coverts margined with creamy white ; tail dark brown all but the middle 

 ones, with a white patch at the end of the inner web, the outermost with 

 the outer web dull white ; lores and supercilium pale sandy ; under tail 

 coverts dull brown, broadly margined with white ; bill horn-brown above, 

 fleshy white below ; legs dull fleshy yellowish ; iris brown. Culmen 0'4 r 

 wing 3'5, tail 1*85, tarsus 0*75 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Palestine, North-east Africa, Arabia, and Persia. 



In habits it resembles P. stulta but frequents dry arid plains, 

 and is more of a desert bird, and in the winter is said to 

 frequent stubble-fields, roads, and farm-yards in search of 

 food. Its note is peculiar, resembling that of a large cricket. 

 It breeds in elevated plains where bushes are scattered about, 

 in Persia, at elevations of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet, descending 

 to lower altitudes in the winter. The nest is neat and compact, 

 and is placed low down in a bush, and it deposits 4 to 5 white 

 eggs, which are marked with a few black spots, looking like 

 diminutive eggs of Oriolns galbula. 



