Birds of Celebes: Fringillidae. 
553 
FAMILY FRINGILLIDAE. 
The Finches and Buntings are seed- and fruit-eating (except as nestlings) 
Passeres with nine primaries ; this should serve to distinguish them from the 
Munias, which they resemble in other respects. For further particulars see 
Sharpe (Cat. of Birds XII, 1888, pp. 1 — 6, 168 — 169, 468 — 472), who recognises 
three subfamilies, the Coccothraustinae typified by the Hawfinch, the Fringillinae 
by the Chaffinch, and the Emberizinae by the Yellow Hammer. 
It is highly remarkable that not a single member of this enormous family 
is known from Australia, Papuasia, the Moluccas, or Borneo, and it is repre- 
sented in Celebes only by Passer montanus, which is no doubt a recent colonist 
in the town of Macassar. 
GENUS PASSER Briss.,PalL 
The Sparrows have the bill scarcely as long as the cranium, conical, very 
slightly denticulated, the nostril at the base of the maxilla, nearly concealed by 
the frontal feathers; a few small rictal bristles. The first three primaries longest ; 
tail square; middle toe with claw slightly longer than the tarsus. 
Bange: the Old World as far as Celebes. 
230. PASSER MONTANUS (L.). 
Tree Sparrow. 
Passer montanus (Linn.), ( 1 ) Vorclerm., N. T. Ned. Ind. 1882, XLII, 82; ( 2 ) id., ib. 1885, 
XLV, 395; ( 3 ) Sharpe, Cat. B. 1888, Xn, 301; ( 4 ) Oates, Faun. Br. Ind. B. 11, 
1890, 240; ( 5 ) id., ed. Hume’s Nests & Eggs Ind. B. 1890, II, 162; ( 6 ) Seeb., 
B. Japan 1890, 130; ( 7 ) Tacz., Faun. Orn. Sib. Orient. I, 1891, 617; ( 8 ) Bourns 
& Worces., B. Menage Exp. 1894, 37; ( 9 ) M. & Wg. , Abh. Mus. Dresd. 1896? 
Nr. 1, p. 13. 
a. Passer monticola (1) Steere, List Coll. B. & M. Pliilipp. Is. 1890, 23. 
For further synonymy and references, figures and descriptions see the standard works on 
the birds of European countries; Sharpe 5; Oates 4 \ Taczanowski 7; etc. 
Adult. Above nifous brown, the head walnut-brown; mantle striped -with black; wings 
blackish, externally Uke the back, the middle and greater coverts tijjped with white 
or whitish, forming two bars; rectrices dull brown with pale edges; a patch on the 
ear-coverts, subocular streak, lores and region at base of mandible, chin, 
middle of throat and jugulum black; rest of face and sides of throat and of 
neck whitish, becoming whitish drab on breast and abdomen, more rufous on 
sides, flanks and thighs, inc lining to cinnamon on under Aving- and tail-coverts, 
the last with darker centres Macassar town, July 1895: P. &P. Sarasin). 
Female. Like the male. 
Measurements (2 males: Macassar). Wing 68, 69 mm; tail 53, 54; tarsus 16.5, 17; bill from 
nostril 8. 
Nest and eggs. See Hume 5 , Taczanowski 7 , and writers on European birds. 
Meyer & Wiglesworth. Birds of Celeles (Nov. 115th, 1897). ^0 
