Birds of Celebes: Fringillidae. 553 



FAMILY FRINGILLIDAE. 



The Finches and Buntings are seed- and fruit-eating (except as nestlings) 

 Passeres with nine primaries ; this should serve to distinguish them from the 

 Munias, which they resemble in other respects. For further particulars see 

 Sharpe (Cat. of Birds XII, 1888, pp. 1—6, 168—169,468—472), who recognises 

 three subfamilies, the Coccothraustinae typified by the Hawfinch, the Fnngillinae 

 by the Chaffinch, and the Emherizinae by the Yellow Hammer. 



It is highly remarkable that not a single member of this enormous family 

 is known from Australia, Papuasia, the Moluccas, or Borneo, and it is repre- 

 sented in Celebes only by Passer montmius, which is no doubt a recent colonist 

 in the town of Macassar. 



GENUS PASSER Briss.,Pall. 



The Sparrows have the bill scarcely as long as the cranium, conical, very 

 slightly denticulated, the nostril at the base of the maxilla, nearly concealed by 

 the frontal feathers; a few small rictal bristles. The first three primaries longest; 

 tail square; middle toe with claw slightly longer than the tarsus. 



Eange: the Old World as far as Celebes. 



^' 230. PASSER MONTANUS (L.). 

 Tree Sparrow. 



Passer montanus (Linn.), (1) Vorderm., N. T. Ned. Ind. 1882, XLU, 82; (2) id., ib. 1885, 

 XLV, 395; (3) Sharpe, Cat. B. 1888, Xn, 301; (4) Gates, Faun. Br. Ind. B. H, 

 1890, 240; (5) id., ed. Hume's Nests & Eggs Ind. B. 1890, 11, 162; (6) Seeb., 

 B. Japan 1890, 130; (7) Tacz., Faun. Orn. Sib. Orient. I, 1891, 617; (8) Bourns 

 & Worces., B. Menage Exp. 1894, 37; (9) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresd. 1896i 

 Nr. 1, p. 13. 



a. Passer monticola (1) Steere, List Coll. B. & M. Philipp. Is. 1890, 23. 



For further synonymy and references, figures and descriptions see the standard works on 

 the bii-ds of Eui'opean countries; Sharpe 5; Gates 4; Taczanowski 7; etc. 



Adult. Above rufous brown, the head walnut-brown; mantle striped \n\h. black; wings 

 blackish, externally Hke the back, the middle and greater coverts tipped with white 

 or wliitish, forming two bars; rectrices dull brown with pale edges; a patch on the 

 ear-coverts, subocular streak, lores and region at base of mandible, chin, 

 middle of throat and jugulum black; rest of face and sides of throat and of 

 neck whitish, becoming whitish drab on breast and abdomen, more rufous on 

 sides, flanks and thighs, inclining to cinnamon on under wing- and tail-coverts, 

 the last with darker centres (.j^. Macassar town, July 1895: P. &F. Sarasin). 



Female. Like the male. 



Measurements (2 males: Macassar). Wing 68, 69 mm; tail 53, 54; tarsus 16.5, 17; bill from 

 nostril S. 



Nest and eggs. See Hume 5, Taczanowski 7, and writers on Eui'opean birds. 



Meyer * Wi sties wn rth . Bird"! of Celebes iNov. Iirth, 181)71. 70 



