364 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



like that of the English bird, and the eggs also are very similar, 

 and much varied in their markings. In various parts of India, 

 and in Ceylon, the natives hang up earthern vessels on trees, and 

 in verandahs, for this bird to build in, which it does very 

 readily. 



The note of this sparrow is quite like that of the European one, 

 and, as it familiarly enters rooms (where, indeed, if allowed, it 

 often breeds on the cornices of ceilings), it is quite a nuisance in 

 many parts of the country, especially during the hot weather. I 

 have frequently seen it chase and capture moths in a room. 



707. Passer salicicolus, Vieillot. 



Fringilla, apud Vieillot.— Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 1 85, f. 1 

 — Blytii, Cat. 644— Horsf., Cat. 764 — Fringilla hispaniolensis, 

 Temm. 



The Willow Sparrow. 



Descr. — Male, head and back of neck dark chesnut, the feathers 

 edged paler ; the mantle blackish, with creamy-white edgings to the 

 feathers ; rump and upper tail-coverts pale brown ; shoulder of 

 win^ chesnut, with white borders to the lesser coverts ; the rest of 

 the wing dusky, with broad pale rufous brown edgings, and a whitish 

 bar, formed by the tips of the greater coverts ; secondaries edged 

 and tipped whitish ; tail dusky with pale edging; lores, cheeks, 

 and a narrow supercilium, white, passing into ashy brown on the 

 ear-coverts ; beneath, the chin, throat and breast, black, some of 

 the feathers edged whitish ; rest of the lower parts sullied white, 

 the flanks and under tail-coverts with dusky longitudinal streaks. 



Length 5| inches ; wing 3 ; tail 2. The female resembles that 

 of the common Sparrow, but the striation of the dorsal feathers 

 is less strongly marked. 



This Sparrow very closely resembles the last, chieily differing 

 in the back of the male more resembling that of the female of the 

 common Sparrow, and in the black of the breast being less 

 defined, and passing into dashes on the flanks. It has only 

 occurred, within our limits, at Peshawar and Shikarpore ; but it 

 appears to be common further west, in Afghanistan. Out of India 



