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tramp on the flat plain of Upper Galilee, without a solitary Partridge for supper in my bag, or 
any thing more choice for the scalpel than a few Rock-Sparrows, Short-toed Larks, and Tawny 
Pipits, when I espied what looked like a hen Sparrow dusting itself in the mule-path in front of 
me, uttering meanwhile a most Sparrow-like chirp. I was near our tent; and by way of dis- 
charging my gun, I fired at it. Seeing the white bar on its tail as it fell, I took it for a young 
Petronia stulta, but soon discovered my mistake. We afterwards procured several others, but 
only on the bare plateau north of Hermon and in Cele Syria.” As above stated Hemprich and 
Ehrenberg met with it in Arabia; and Von Heuglin says (Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 625) that he found 
it in the coast districts of Abyssinia, not far from the Mareb, and again in Southern-eastern 
Kordofan. He observed it in these districts during and after the rainy season, from the end of 
August to November, but is unable to say if it is a resident or a migrant. 
Eastward the present species is found into Persia, but does not extend into Turkestan or 
India. 
According to Mr. Blanford (EK. Pers. ii. p. 256) it is “‘common in many parts of the Persian 
plateau, apparently descending to lower elevations in the winter, and breeding in summer on 
plains with scattered low bushes from 5000 to 8000 feet. My attention was attracted to this 
bird by its singular note, which so exactly resembles that of a large cricket that it was some 
time before I could feel convinced that it really proceeded from a bird. At the time I first heard 
the note (the end of April) these Sparrows were frequently seen sitting on bushes in semidesert 
plains, and uttering their singular stridulation. I do not think this peculiarity has been before 
noticed in print; but Mr. Tristram tells us he observed it on his last visit to Palestine.” 
In habits the present species appears to assimilate somewhat to the Rock-Sparrow, but is 
much more of a desert-bird, frequenting the dry arid plains, where its peculiar grey sandy 
coloration renders it difficult to observe. Von Heuglin says (/.c.) that in North-east Africa it 
‘frequents the vicinity of farm-yards, hedges, threshing-floors, and is to be seen on the roads 
and in stubble-fields, hillocks overgrown with high grass, and rocks, and in the autumn collects 
not unfrequently, like the Ortolan, in small flocks; it is shy, and keeps flying about, uttering a 
peculiar stridulating call-note, which sounds very Bunting-like. It feeds on the seeds of Eleusine, 
Poa, and Cyperus, and also on coleoptera. It moults in October; and fresh-moulted autumn birds 
have a smoky brown tinge in the plumage, whereas, when abraded, the feathers have the reddish 
or isabelline grey coloration of the desert sand.” 
Canon Tristram was fortunate enough to obtain the nest and eggs of this bird in Syria. 
One morning, he writes (Ibis, 1868, p. 205), “in riding across the arid plain of the Sahra, not 
far west of Damascus we came on a neat compact nest in a very low bush, not two feet from the 
ground, containing four white eggs with a few black spots, exactly like a diminutive Golden 
Oriole’s (Oriolus galbula). Completely puzzled as to the ownership of this pretty little domestic 
establishment, we thought it worth while to dismount and conceal ourselves in the neighbour- 
hood till the proprietor should return. Soon the hen bird, cautiously hopping among the scrub, 
resumed her place on the nest. After watching her for a little while, we put her off, and secured 
her, as well as the sitting of four hard-set eggs. A few days afterwards I took another similar 
nest of five eggs in a bush on the bare hillside near Zebdany. This style of egg, so strangely 
