PETRONIAMONTIFRINGILLA 297 



434. YELLOW-THROATED SPARROW. 

 PETRONIA FLAVICOLLIS. 



Pelronia flavicollis (Frankl.), P.Z.S., 1831, i. p. 120 ; Sharpe, Cut. B. Br, 

 Mus. xii. p, 293 ; (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 235. 



Eaji, Jangli-clmri, Hind. ; Adavi-pichike, Tel. 



ad. (India). Upper parts generally ashy brown ; quills and tail 

 dark brown, margined with pale buff ; lesser wing-coverts chestnut ; median 

 coverts tipped with white, and larger coverts with pale buff, forming two 

 bars across the wing ; under parts ashy white, the flanks darker, chin 

 nearly white, throat yellow ; bill black ; legs greyish plumbeous ; iris 

 brown. Culrnen 0'5, wing 3*25, tail 2'2, tarsus 0*6 inch. The female has 

 the throat-spot much paler, the lesser wing-coverts rufous brown, and the 

 bill brown. The winter plumage is rather browner, and the male has the 

 beak brown. 



Hob. Persia, Baluchistan, India from the Himalayas to 

 Travancore and from Sind to the longitude of Midnapore in 

 Bengal; Ceylon. 



Frequents thin forest jungle, groves, and gardens, and in its 

 general habits and note resembles the common House-sparrow, 

 It is gregarious and in the winter often collects in tolerably 

 large flocks. It breeds from March to June not strictly in 

 colonies, though a dozen nests may be found in one large tree. 

 The nest is usually placed in a hole in a tree, occasionally in a 

 roof, and is usually only a bundle of dry grass lined with 

 feathers, but sometimes a cup-shaped nest is built, strips of 

 bark and tow being added to the grass, and sometimes it is a 

 closely woven pad of hair, tow, and wool, with a little central 

 hollow lined with a few feathers. The eggs, 3 to 4 in number, 

 are dull and glossless, greenish white closely streaked, smudged, 

 and blotched all over with dingy brown, sepia or chocolate- 

 brown, the markings often quite hiding the ground colour ; in 

 size they average about O74 by 0'55. 



MONTIFRINGILLA, Brehm, 1828. 



435. SNOW-FINCH. 

 MONTIFRINGILLA NIVALIS. 



Montifrmgilla nivalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 321 (1766) ; (Naura.), v. p. 4 > 

 Taf. 117 ; (Gould), B. of E. iii. pi. 189 ; Dresser, iii. p. 617, pi. 181 

 Sharpe, Cat, B. Br. Mus. xii. p. 259. 



