Hi all,
The plot thickens! I take Philip’s points about
recessive genes etc leading to aberrant birds and possible populations of such
but according to my 1999 copy of the Collins Bird Guide (to Europe) by
Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom and Grant, the “Italian” Sparrow
is actually a hybrid between the House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, and the Spanish Sparrow, P. hispaniolensis. To quote from the relevant
sections …(House Sparrow) – “Hybridizes with Spanish Sparrow
(which see).” (Spanish Sparrow) – “Rather stable hybrid forms
occur in southernmost Switzerland,
N and C Italy (x italiae) and in Malta (x maltae).” It is of note that there
are no such species as P. italiae
or P. maltae. On the page facing
the above information is an illustration of an “Italian” Sparrow
with “normal” House Sparrows. How this hybrid came to be in Australia I don’t
know. My copy of John Long’s book on introduced birds is buried under a
pile of other books following a lot of shifting things around after my children
left home and I haven’t yet gotten around to sorting things out. Interestingly
it is not mentioned in Dick Schodde and Ian Mason’s 1999 Directory of Australian
Birds. I have not (re)read the paper by Nicola Clark lately!!
On another associated note mention was made by David
McDonald of the birds seen by Terry Gourlay possibly being Tree Sparrows and
noting that we really don’t want another introduction around. The Tree
Sparrow is common in South East Asia and to my way of thinking will sooner or
later arrive in Australia
under its own power. It has already come into Darwin
recently, probably ship assisted, but with the continued clearing in Indonesia and West Irian I feel it will get here
via the Torres Strait Islands or via the Commonwealth
Territories in the Timor
Sea. A lot of species have recently been added to the Australian
list from Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef.
I hope this helps sort somewhat the birds in
question. I am sure there are better qualified people than me who could make
more relevant comments.
Mark
