606 PASSER FLAVICOLLIS. 



(Ibis, 1878, p. 201), but omitted to do so. I met with it in October 1876, while on a trip to Chilaw, close to 

 Afadampe. A considerable flock were together, in company with a number of Weaver-birds, on some openly- 

 wooded grass-land near the sea. I only procured two specimens, as it was just sunset ; and on returning a 

 couple of days afterwards, I did not see the flock. One of the birds in question was in heavy moult, acquiring 

 new primaries, so that I am not of opinion that it had recently arrived from India, although the locality 

 favours the idea that it and its companions may have been visitors to the island. 



Its occurrence in Ceylon is very interesting, as it ought by rights to be an indigenous bird there, being 

 id over most of India. 



It is spread throughout the empire, from the Himalayas (in which it occurs to an elevation of 5000 feet) 

 to the extreme south, extending in a westerly direction as far as Sindh, where Messrs. James and Blanford 

 procured it, but not passing into Burmah. In the south, of late years, it has been noticed by the 

 Rev. Dr. Fairbank, who obtained it at Periakulam near the base of the Palanis ; he likewise remarks that it 

 is found everywhere in the Khandala distinct, though in small numbers. Messrs. Davidson and Wcndcr, too, 

 met with it in the Sholapoor districts of the Deccan, where it was rare, but breeding notwithstanding. 

 Mr. Ball records it from many localities between the Goclaveri and the Ganges, and says that it is nowhere so 

 abundant in Chota Nagpur as in the Satpura hills, where he hardly passed a clay without seeing numbers, 

 and in some places found it in the thickest jungles. About Mount Aboo it is common on the hills and in the 

 plains, according to Capt. Butler, breeding on the mount in April. Air. Hume says that he believes it to be 

 only a seasonal visitant to Sindh and Kattiawar; and Mr. James is of opinion that it breeds in the former 

 region. Air. A. Anderson procured it at Futtehgur, and Air. Adam at Oudh, and remarks that it is very 

 common all about the Sambhur Lake. Captain Marshall found it at Murree in July, and Air. Brooks 

 procured it at Dbunda above Alussoori. 



Habits. — Jerdon writes of this Sparrow as follows : — " It frequents thin forest-jungle, also groves of trees, 

 avenues, and gardens in the better wooded parts of the country. It lives in small parties, occasionally, 

 during the cold weather, congregating in very large flocks ; feeds on various seeds, grains, and flower-buds, 

 and has much the same manners and habits as the common House-Sparrow. It has also a very similar 

 note." On the occasion of my meeting it, it was associating in a flock in a characteristic spot of the north- 

 west coast — open country, dotted here and there with clumps of by no means luxuriant wood, about the 

 borders or in the middle of which stood ragged-looking trees with half-clad branches ; the troop was settling 

 on the tops of the trees and uttering such a Sparrow-like chirp as they flew from one to the other that I took 

 □ for ( 'umiiion Sparrows, more particularly as they had the same style of flight. The food of the specimens 

 procured consisted of seeds of various herbs. Air. James writes that it is common to see them in Sindh 

 feeding on the pollen of the flowers of the wild Caper. 



Xiilificution. — This Sparrow breeds in the plains of India in April and Alay, but in the Himalayas nests 

 .is late as July. It is said to breed throughout India, except in the extreme south, and in Orissa and Bengal 

 proper (Hume). Good-sized trees, such as mangos, arc generally chosen; and the nest is invariably placed in 

 a hole, sometimes at a height of 30 feet from the ground. Air. Hume writes: — "On one occasion I found 



-t in a hole in a stem of an old Heens-bush (Capparis aphylla), which stem was barely 5 inches in diameter. 

 Dhe nest is generally only a little bundle of dry grass, thickly lined with feathers. If in a mango-grove much 

 frequented by the common Green Paroquets, the feathers of these latter are sure to be chiefly used. Some- 

 times, however, a more or less cup-shaped nest is formed of fine strips of bark and tow being added to the 

 grass ; ami, again, at times it is a regular pad of hair, tow, and wool, with a few feathers, all closely interwoven, 

 and with only a little central hollow/' Four is the greatest number of eggs laid, three being often found. 

 They are described as dull, glossless, moderately elongated ovals, sometimes pointed towards the small end. 

 The ground-colour, of which little is visible, is " greenish white, thickly streaked, some edged and blotched, 

 all over with dingy brown, usually more a mixture of sepia or chocolate-brown than any other shade." They 

 average in size 0'74 by 055 inch. 



