Birds of the Indian Hills 



neck, and back ; the abdomen is of a brighter 

 hue of yellow. 



The house-sparrow, like the house-crow, is 

 a bird of the plains rather than of the hills. 

 The common sparrow of the Himalayas is 

 the handsome cinnamon tree-sparrow (^Passer 

 cinamomeus). The cock is easily recognised 

 by his bright cinnamon-coloured head and 

 shoulders. Imagine a house-sparrow shorn of 

 sixty per cent, of his impudence, and you will 

 have arrived at a fair estimate of the character 

 of the tree-sparrow. 



The only other members of the Finch family 

 that concern us are the buntings. A bunting 

 is a rather superior kind of sparrow — a Lord 

 Curzon among sparrows — a sparrow with a 

 refined beak. The familiar English yellow- 

 hammer is a bunting. Two buntings are 

 common in the Western Himalayas. The 

 first of these, the eastern meadow-bunting 

 {Emheriza stracheyi), looks like a large, well- 

 groomed sparrow. A broad slate-coloured 

 band runs from the base of the beak over the 

 top of the head to the nape of the neck. In 

 addition to this, there are on each side of the 

 head blackish bars, like those on the head of 



the quail. By these signs the bird may be 



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