The English Sparrow 



No. 35 



English Sparrow 



Introduced. Passer domesticus (Linnjeus). 



Synonyms. — The Sparrow. House Sparrow. Domestic Sparrow. Street 



Sparrow. Gamin. Hoodlum. Mobbing Sparrow. 



Description. — Adult male: Pileum and occiput deep mouse-gray; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts mouse-gray, tinged with olivaceous; back, wings, sides of neck, 

 and supra-auricular region chestnut, varied on back and wings by black centers of 

 feathers; tips of median coverts white, forming a conspicuous transverse bar; lores, 

 region below eyes, chin, throat, and breast, broadly, black; cheeks and sides of throat 

 dingy white; the remaining underparts smoky gray. Bill black; feet brownish. Im- 

 mature male: Like adult, but chestnut area on sides of head and neck veiled and tipped 

 with buffy; the black of throat and breast reduced in area and more or less veiled with 

 white tips. Adult female: Somewhat similar to adult male, but without chestnut 

 of upperparts and sides, and without black below; upperparts brown (between Sac- 

 cardo's umber and sepia) on pileum and rump, this color shading on sides and breast 

 into the lighter tone of remaining underparts; back, tail, and wings extensively black, 

 edged by pale cinnamon; a dull buffy supra-auricular stripe, bordered by dusky, 

 takes the place of the chestnut stripe of the male. Length 139. 7-158. 8 (5.50-6.25); 

 wing 76.2 (3.00); tail 55.9 (2.20); bill 12.7 (.50). Sexes of about equal size. 



Nesting. — Nest: If in a tree or other situation requiring structural consist- 

 ency, a bulk}- sphere of grass and trash, with entrance hole on side, and heavily lined 

 with feathers; otherwise a varied filling of hole, niche, or cranny, whether in trees or 

 cliffs or about buildings, but always copiously lined with feathers. Eggs: 4 to 6; 

 white; heavily sprinkled and spotted with grayish brown (hair-brown to bone-brown 

 with drab shadings), pigment usually uniformly distributed and sometimes obliter- 

 ating background; otherwise (often one egg in each clutch) more sharply defined and 

 showing tendency to confluence in coronal wreath. Av. size 21.8 x 15.8 (.86 x .62). 

 Season: March to September; several broods. 



General Range. — Nearly the whole of Europe (except Italy) and Siberia to 

 Irkutsk and Dauria, south through Asia Minor, Persia, India, and Ceylon to Cochin 

 China. Introduced into North America, New Zealand, Australia, etc. 



Distribution in California. — Introduced to San Francisco about 1871 or 1872; 

 now increasing at lower and middle levels throughout the State, but still radiating 

 from "cultural," especially railroad, centers. Introduction into southern localities 

 much retarded by presence of California Linnet (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis), 

 and still more or less under control. Passer domesticus knows no barriers of tempera- 

 ture or humidity, and thrives alike in Del Norte Count}' or in the Colorado desert 

 (Mecca, Jan. 30, 1913). It is crossing to the islands (Farallons, May 29, 1911; Santa 

 Cruz, April 12, 1915), but is not likely to invade the upper slopes of the Sierras. 



Authorities. — Barrows, U. S. Dept. Agric. Div. Orn. & Mamm., Bull. no. 1, 

 1889, pp. 19, 201, 262 (history of arrival and spread in Calif.); Belding, Occ. Papers, 

 Calif. Acad. Sci., 2, 1890, pp. 168-169; Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 



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