MOUNTAIN SPARROW.[94]
- Fringilla montana Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 183.
- Passer montanus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1888), 12, 178; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 238 (habits); Hume, Oates ed. Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 162; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 104.
Gor-re-ón, Manila.
Cebu (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Luzon (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor). Northern Africa and nearly the whole of Europe and Asia.
Adult (sexes similar).—Forehead, crown, and hind neck liver-brown or vinous-chestnut; back, rump, and tail-coverts dull cinnamon-rufous; back with wide black stripes confined to the inner web of each feather; lores, a line under eye, a large patch on ear-coverts, chin, and middle of throat black; remainder of sides of head and sides of throat grayish white; remainder of under parts dirty pale gray, washed with fulvous-brown on sides, flanks, thighs, and tail-coverts; wings and tail brown, most of the wing-feathers edged with dull cinnamon-rufous; lesser coverts dull chestnut; median coverts blackish, tipped with white; greater coverts edged with cinnamon-rufous and tipped with white; the tips of median and greater coverts forming bars; second to fifth primaries with an ocherous-buff band on outer webs near the tip of primary-coverts. A male from Manila measures: Length, 140; wing, 66; tail, 52; culmen from base, 13; tarsus, 17. A female, wing, 68; tail, 54; culmen from base, 14; tarsus, 17.
Young.—Color pattern like that of the adult, but upper parts lighter; crown and neck dark clay-brown, cinnamon on sides of occiput and sides of neck; back with broad streaks of buff; ear-coverts, chin, and throat slate-gray and the areas not so well defined as in the adult.
The mountain, or tree, sparrow is an introduced species in the Philippine Islands. It is found in considerable numbers about Manila and in towns along the railroads. It is also abundant in the town of Cebu.
Genus SPINUS Koch, 1816.
Bill slender and acute, its distal half greatly compressed; culmen straight, without a decided ridge; wings very long, reaching nearly to the tip of tail which is forked. Colors canary-yellow, black, and white.