ROCK SPARROW. 
12 () 
They appear only to breed once in the year. The 
old birds are very anxious about their young, and 
are in great distress when anyone approaches the nest 
which contains them, and are very careful watchers. 
The male in breeding plumage has the head light 
brown, with two darker bands on each side; all the 
upper parts more or less of the same tint, marked 
with longitudinal patches of darker brown, the borders 
of the feathers being lighter ; rump and under tail 
coverts light brown, the feathers tipped with white; 
throat, erop, and abdomen tawny white, with grey 
and brown spots; a yellow band separates the throat 
from the crop; sides of the head and neck ash-colour, 
with a brown band beneath the eye, and a white 
broad line separating the eyebrow from a similar 
band on the head. Wings the same colour as the 
baek, with the coverts tipped with russet grey; the 
primaries brown, with a white patch on the middle 
of each outer web, except the first, and more marked 
on the second and third; tail feathers brown, and 
terminated, except the two middle ones, with a round 
white spot on the inner web. Beak brown above, 
yellowish below; feet russet; iris brown. 
The male in autumn has the general tints browner; 
the black spots and the whitish ones above larger; 
the scapularies, wing coverts, and primaries tipped 
with whitish; the under parts with the longitudinal 
brown spots larger and darker. 
The female difiers very little from the male ; the 
yellow mark on the neck is not so distinct, and all 
the other colours less lively. 
The young before the first moult resemble the fe- 
male, without the yellow mark on the neck. Degland 
says this mark is lost in confinement. 
