2 02



Capt. G. A. Perreau,



“Female . The whole upper plumage ruddy brown, tinged

with red on the rump and with black and fulvous streaks on the

back; lesser wing-coverts ruddy brown; median coverts black

tipped with white; greater coverts, quills and tail dark brown

edged with fulvous ; a broad fulvous supercilium with a broad

dusky band below it; the sides of the head and neck, and the

whole lower plumage pale ashy yellow.


“ Iris reddish brown ; legs and feet dark reddish brown ;

bill pale brown in winter, black in summer. Length about 5.5 ;

tail 2.3 ; wing 2.9 ; tarsus .65 ; bill from gape .55.


“ Distribution . The Himalayas from Murree to Bhutan up

to 7,000 feet; the Khasi Hills; the Naga Halls; Manipur; the

hills east of Bhamo ; the Karen Hills east of Tougugoo.


“ Habits, etc. Chiefly a jungle Sparrow. Breeds in May

and June, constructing its nest in holes of trees as a rule, but

sometimes in houses. Eggs, four to six, of the sparrow type,

and measuring about .76 by .57.


“ Passer assimilis, Walden, A.M.N.H. (4) v, p. 218 (1870),

is, I now find after a re-examination of the type, to be referred to

P. rutilans, Ternm., as already noted by Sharpe (Cat. B.M. xii.,

p. 827). The type of P. assimilis is said to have been procured

at Tougugoo, but there may be probably some mistake about

this, as the specimen was not shot by Wardlaw Ramsay, or other

trustworthy collector. It appears to be a dealer’s skin. It is

also to be noted that a true pair of P. cinnamomeus were procured

by Wardlaw Ramsay on the Karen Hills near Tougugoo, and it

is unlikely that two distinct but closely allied Sparrows should

be found together in Tougugoo and its neighbourhood. Under

these circumstances I shall not include P. rutilans among the

birds of the Indian Empire. In case, however, it should be met

with, the male may be recognised by its similarity to the male of

P. cinnamomeus, from which it differs in having the cheeks and

ear-coverts pure white and the lower plumage ashy-white with¬

out a trace of yellow. The females of the two species are indis¬

tinguishable from each other. P. rutila?is is found in China.”


The above quotation is long, but I daresay a good many of

our members have not access to this book, and unless my rather

limited experience is exceptional, I think this is one of the cases



