130 'PASSERES. 



the roseate form. In the same collection there is only one male of 

 the typical colour from Yezzo, and four of the roseate form. Mr. 

 Jouy obtained five adult males in Tate-yama in winter, four of which 

 were more or less roseate on the breast, and in two of them the back 

 was also roseate (Jouy, Proc. United States Nat. Mus. 1883, p. 293). 

 The two forms certainly intergrade, and the appearance of an example 

 of the typical form from Yezzo throws considerable doubt on the 

 distinctness of their geographical ranges. 



108. PASSER MONTANUS. 

 (TREE- SPARROW.) 



Fringilla montana, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 324 (1766). 



The Tree-Sparrow is easily recognized by its chestnut-brown 

 crown and nape, and by the large black patch in the middle of the 

 white on the side of the head. The female resembles the male, but 

 is slightly duller in colour. 



Figures : Dresser, Birds of Europe, iii. pi. 178. 



The Tree-Sparrow is the Common Sparrow of the towns and 

 villages of Japan (Blakiston and Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 244), and was 

 obtained probably at Nagasaki by the Siebold Expedition (Temminck 

 and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, p. 89). There is an example 

 in the Swinhoe collection from Hakodadi (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 145) ; and there are four in the Pryer collection from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Yokohama, and nine from the central group of the 

 Loo-Choo Islands. 



The Tree-Sparrow is found throughout the Palaearctic Region, 

 from the British Islands to Japan. 



It is abundant everywhere near houses or towns in Central Hondo, 

 breeding in the thatched roofs of the native houses (Jouy, Proc. 

 United States Nat. Mus. 1883, p. 297). Eggs in the Pryer collec- 

 tion do not differ from those obtained in the British Islands. 



Examples from the Loo-Choo Islands have been described as dis- 

 tinct under the name of Passer saturatus (Stejneger, Proc. United 

 States Nat. Mus. 1885, p. 19), but I am unable to distinguish them 

 from the European species. 



The example described by Dr. Stejneger appears to have been in 

 immature plumage. Examples collected by General Prjevalski at 

 Lob Nor and other localities in Central Asia are so pale that they 

 are almost worthy of being recognized as a desert form. 



