




























114. Messrs. H. Seebohm and J. A. Harvie Brown on 
incubation they are very retiring and silent, frequenting the 
thickest parts of the forests, except when engaged im feeding, 
when they may be seen on the roads or at the forest station- 
houses. After the young can fly, the parents become bolder 
and more noisy, and show themselves more freely. We did 
not meet with the species north of Habariki. A nest and 
eggs were brought to us at Ust Zylma on the 27th April; 
and we obtained young birds well grown in the beginning of 
June, at which time the old birds are moulting their wing- 
and tail-feathers. 
Passer pomeEsticus (L.). 
The distribution of the House-Sparrow in North Russia is 
somewhat curious, it being generally confined to the larger 
towns. In the neighbourhood of Archangel, however, it ap- 
pears to be quite as abundant in the villages of the delta of 
the Dvina as it is in the town itself, and almost entirely sup- 
plants the next species. Eastward we'did not meet with it 
until we reached Ust Zylma, where we first obtained it on the 
18th May, though its presence was suspected in smaller num- 
bers at the time of our arrival on the 15th April. About the 
middle of May there must have been a considerable accession 
to their numbers, though they apparently confined them- 
selves to the vicinity of a part of the town occupied by the 
houses of the richer inhabitants, the House-Sparrow being 
rather fond of good living. Northwards it is plentiful at 
Kuya, and apparently as numerous as the next species. Only 
stragglers were obtained further north, at Alexievka, which 
was the northernmost point where we found them. 
The extremely bright colouring of the males as compared 
with all other specimens we have seen, is deserving of pass- 
ing notice. 
PassER MONTANUS (L.). 
The distribution of the Tree-Sparrow is almost the converse 
of that of the House-Sparrow, it being found for the most part 
in the smaller villages, almost to the exclusion of the other 
species. Curiously enough, however, it appears to be quite 
absent from the small villages of the delta of the Dvina, 


