126 rock sparrow; 



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, crop, 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 

 back, 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 differs 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. 



