2 
include all such as are merely desert forms and otherwise closely assimilate to allied true Pale- 
arctic species. I have therefore decided to include these desert forms, especially as they are but 
few in number, and will but slightly increase the number of species of which I have to treat. 
The Desert-Sparrow is an inhabitant of the true desert, and is only to be met with in Algeria 
in the southern districts, according to Loche in the M’zab country; and the specimen obtained 
by him, and deposited in the zoological collection at Algiers, was procured at Gardheia. Loche 
states that Canon Tristram searched for it in vain when in Algeria in 1857, and that it was not 
known to inhabit that country until he obtained it in the oasis of M’zab in 1856; but Canon 
Tristram writes (Ibis, 1859, p. 294) as follows:—“'This Sparrow was first ascertained to be a 
resident in the Sahara in the winter of 1856, when I obtained several examples in the oasis of 
Hadjira. Captain Loche has since found it in the Wed M’zab.” 
In North-east Africa the Desert-Sparrow has but a restricted range. It was first described 
by Lichtenstein from Nubia; and Von Heuglin says (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 636) that he only observed 
it in the deserts of Southern Nubia, throughout the whole Bajuda, in Northern Kordofan and 
Sennaar, and in the desert between Berber and Sauakin, but in the latter locality it was not found 
in mountainous districts. 
As might be supposed, the Desert-Sparrow resembles the Tree-Sparrow in its general habits. 
Von Heuglin writes (/. ¢.) that, like Passer montanus, it is found in pairs or small flocks, feeds 
chiefly on seeds, is frequently seen about the stations where the caravans halt, and its flight and 
note closely resemble those of P. montanus; and Canon Tristram writes (/. c.) as follows respecting 
its habits, viz.:—‘“ It is a rare bird in all its localities, living in little companies of five or six 
together in the outskirts of the palm-groves, among the stunted and sand-choked date-palms, and 
never, according to our observation, venturing into the cultivated portions of the oases. It is 
scarcely necessary to add that it is confined to the most southern limits of the Algerian Sahara. 
It is shy and silent, and hops from leaf to leaf more like a Sylvia than a Sparrow, running along 
the ground from tree to tree, and then skulking in the heart of the date-buds, where it probably 
finds its insect food. . . . I never found the Desert-Sparrow in the open country, nor indeed more 
than a few yards from a tree; and I observed its habits the more carefully for several days, as I 
fully believed it to be a new species.” 
Loche says that it breeds on the palms, and that its nest is constructed of rootlets, fine 
bents, hair, and feathers, and that its eggs, four in number, are white with a bluish tinge, 
sparingly spotted with grey and brown, these spots frequently forming a wreath round the larger 
end. Unfortunately I have not been able to obtain the nest or eggs of this bird for description, 
and can therefore only translate Loche’s description. 
The specimens figured and described are an adult male in the collection of Canon Tristram, 
and an adult female in my own collection. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :— 
E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 
a, 2. Hadjira, Algeria, December 22nd, 1856 (H. B. Tristram). 
E Mus. H. B. Tristram. 
a, 6. Hadjira, Algeria, December 23rd, 1856. 6, 2. Hadjira, December 22nd, 1856 (H. B. T.). 
