visiter at Southchurch in Essex, according to the observations
of Mr. Parsons. It is found in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Rutland, Lincolnshire, about Wainfleet, in Yorkshire
at various localities ; in Durham, and probably in Northumberland
; but I am unable to trace it much farther north than
Newcastle, and it does not appear to have been noticed in
Scotland.
Professor Nilsson includes the Tree Sparrow in his work
on the Birds of Sweden, and also in his Fauna of Scandinavia,
where he says it frequents gardens; and some authors have
stated that this bird was found as far to the west of the European
Continent as Hudson’s Bay and North America; but
this appears to have been a mistake, and refers to another
species. The geographical range of the Tree Sparrow is to
the northward and the eastward ; it inhabits Lapland and
Siberia: specimens have been received by Mr. Gould from the
Himalaya mountain range and from China, and M. Tem-
minck includes it also in his Birds of Japan. In the southern
part of Europe it is well known, being rather a common
bird in France, Provence, Spain, and Italy.
In summer the beak of the male is of a bluish lead colour;
the irides hazel; the head and neck chestnut, bounded with
white on each side of the neck ; the back and wings reddish
brown, streaked with pure black ; both sets of wing-coverts
black, edged with chestnut and tipped with white ; primaries
black, margined with brown; tertials broadly edged with
chestnut brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts uniform pale
brown ; tail-feathers greyish brown, with lighter brown edges;
cjiin and throat black ; under the eye and over the ear-coverts
a narrow black streak ; cheeks, and sides of the neck, with a
triangular spot of pure black: breast, belly, and under tail-
coverts, dull brownish white, darker on the sides and flanks ;
under coverts of the wings pale fawn colour; legs, toes, and
claws, pale brown.
The whole length of the male five inches and five-eighths.
The first quill-feather the same length as the fifth ; the second,
third, and fourth, nearly equal in length, and the
longest in the wing, but the second rather the longest of the
three. v
The female is smaller than the male, measuring only five
inches three-eighths in length ; but the plumage is the same,
except that the colours are not quite so bright as those of the
male.
The young birds in their nestling feathers possess the
chestnut head, black throat, arid the white on the side of the
neck; but the colours are paler than those of the adult birds.
The vignette below represents the breast-bones of the
Brambling and the House Sparrow.