54 SPANISH SPABBOW. 



very interestiTig remarks^ from the work above alluded to. Mr. Tristram 

 says, "The Spanish Sparrow, of which the Arab name is Zaouch, is 

 abundant in vast flocks wherever there is moisture, and especially 

 among the reeds in the salt marshes. At "VVaregla and Tuggart, 

 where the salt lakes are never dry, the noise of these birds is 

 perfectly deafening, and a hundred may be, and I am told have 

 been, brought down at a shot. Its habits are certainly very different 

 from those of its familiar congener here, though in boldness and activity 

 it rivals him. I am not acquainted with this bird in Spain; but in 

 Africa, as a general rule, it does not aflect the habitations of men, 

 and always breeds near water, in vast colonies of many thousands." 

 —(Page 293.) 



Mr. Salvin says in his "Five Months Bird-nesting in the Eastern 

 Atlas," ("Ibis," vol. i., p. ol4:) — "The Spanish Sparrow is found in 

 great numbers during the breeding season, among the tamarisk thickets 

 on the Chemora, and in the high sedge at Zana. The Arabs destroy 

 the nests, eggs, and young wherever they find them, as their great 

 numbers do much damage to the crops of corn. The nests are 

 placed as thickly as they can stand, the whole colony, consisting of 

 perhaps one hundred pairs, occupying only five or six trees. The 

 noise and ceaseless chattering proceeding from one of these 'Sparrow 

 towns' can easily be imagined; and, guided by the sound alone, one 

 may walk directly to the spot for a considerable distance. One 

 Sunday morning four Arabs came to our tents, and gravely sitting 

 down in a row, opened the hoods of their burnouses, and displayed 

 eight hundred or a thousand Sparrow eggs, which they arranged in 

 four heaps before them, and remained in their sitting posture, con- 

 templating them with evident satisfaction. We were rather taken by 

 surprise, but selected the best for our collections, reserving the rest 

 for omelettes." 



I have received the male and female of the bird which Dr. Leith 

 Adams says is very common in Malta, and which he has labelled 

 Passer salicarius, Vieillot. Upon close comparison I could not dis- 

 cover any real specific differences between these skins and our Common 

 House Sparrow, P. domesticus. I wrote this to Dr. L. Adams, and 

 in reply that gentleman remarks: — "In the absence of specimens for 

 comparison, my impressions have always been that our Sparrow in 

 Malta is a true type, or else a variety of the Passer salicarius of 

 Vieillot, and Sir W. Jardine, to whom several type specimens were 

 sent, says the same. I have, however, since you wrote, made a 

 very long series, and sent it by a friend to Mr. Sclater, requesting 

 he will make particular enquiry into the subject, and publish his 



