PASSEE FLAVICOLLIS. 



(THE YELLOW-THROATED SPARROW.) 



Fringilla flavicollis, Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 120. 



Gymnoris flavicollis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1844, xiii. p. 948 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. 



I. Co. ii. p. 497 (1856) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 461 (1874) ; id. Str. Feath. 1873, 



p. 420; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 421; Fairbank, ibid. 1877, p. 408 ; Davidson & Wender, 



ibid. 1878, vii. p. 85 ; Ball, t. c. p. 223. 

 Ploceus flavicollis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 94. 

 Petronia flavicollis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mas. A. S. B. p. 120 (1849). 

 Passer flavicollis, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 368 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 42; Brooks, 



Str. Feath. 1875, p. 254 ; Butler & Hume, t. c. p. 497 ; Fairbank, ibid. 1876, p. 261. 

 The Yellow-necked or Jungle-Sparrow, Jerdon. Baji, Hind., or Jangli-churi ; Adavi-pichike, 



also Koncle pichike, Telugu (Jerdon). 



Adult male (Futtehgur). Length 5-5 inches ; wing 3-25; tail 2-3; tarsus 0-6 ; middle toe 0-55, claw (straight) 0-19 : 

 bill to gape 0*55. 



Female (Futtehgur). Length (from skin) 0-5 ; wing 3-02 to 3-2 ; tail 2-2. 



" Iris brown ; bill black ; legs cinereous brown " (Jerdon). 



Above from the forehead to the upper tail-coverts, including the scapulars, pale sandy brown ; wings and tail plain 

 brown ; the least coverts cinnamon-red, forming a conspicuous shoulder-patch, the next row with deep white tips. 

 and the greater series with pale external edges and tips ; the secondaries with less pale margins, and the primaries 

 and tail with fine light edges ; throat whitish, paling into sandy grey on the cheeks ; fore neck, chest, and flanks 

 very pale greyish brown, becoming albescent on the breast, belly, and under tail-coverts ; on the centre of the 

 fore neck a larye rich yellow spot. 



Female. ' Slightly paler above, with the red shoulder-spot not so deep in colour as in the male : yellow neck-spot 

 slightly smaller and of a somewhat less rich yellow. 



Young female (Madampe, Ceylon, October). Length 5 - 2 inches; wing 2-8; tail 1-8 ; bill to gape 0*55. 



Iris brown ; bill dark brown, lower mandible fleshy ; legs and feet dusky bluish. 



Above darker brown than the male above described ; wing-patch brownish cinnamon ; the coverts wanting the white 

 tips ; quills, primary-coverts, and secondaries dark brown with pale edges ; beneath whitish, tinged with brownish 

 grey, except on the throat and lower parts ; yellow throat-spot very pale. Another example in moult has the 

 yellow throat-spot almost imperceptible from abrasion ; the wing-spot is of the same dull colour. 



Female (Futtehgur, January). Chestnut wing-spot brighter than the above, the median coverts conspicuously tipped 

 with white ; the neck-spot small, but pure yellow in colour ; this is the plumage after the first moult, the breeding- 

 season being in May, and my birds being in first autumn plumage. 



Obs. This interesting Sparrow belongs to a little group which was separated by Hodgson as Gymnoris ; there are. 

 according to Jerdon, two other species — P. petronius, Linn., of Europe, and P. superciliaris, A. Hay, from Africa. 

 They have the bill slightly longer and less robust, and the tail proportionately shorter than the other Sparro \ • . 

 and are characterized by the peculiar throat-spot. Blyth considers the Yellow-throated Sparrows are " linked to 

 the ordinary Sparrow by the African Passer simplex, Licht., which has an intermediate form of bill and wants the 

 yellow pectoral spot ;" and, to avoid a multiplicity of genera, I keep this bird in Passer, though it forms, perhaps, 

 a recognizable subgenus. 



Distribution.— The Yellow-necked Sparrow is new to the avifauna of Ceylon, and has not yet been pub- 

 lished as occurring in the island. I intended to have included it among the few species on which I made remarks 



