My parents (English) have always called them "Spadgers".
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of
Sent: Friday, 21 November 2008 1:57 PM
To:
Subject: Sparrows
"Spadger" is a common British synonym for sparrow.
I have read somewhere that in Victoria they used to be known as "Spriggies"
because a
leading light in the Victorian Acclimatization Society was a Mr. Sprigg. (I
have spent
days trying to find a reference for this statement without success but I
know it's there
somewhere).
Anthea Fleming
> Here in the Hunter Valley NSW numerous birdos refer to them as
> "Spadgers"
>
> A Brew
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Nick Uren
> Sent: Thursday, 20 November 2008 5:29 PM
> To: Bill Jolly; ;
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Sparrows
>
> Dear Bill and Philip,
> Many thanks for your replies to my
> question about sparrows,
> it certainly helps clarify and simplify the situation. However, I
> have had no responses with respect to local or alternative names for
> sparrows which although disappointing is not surprising I suppose in
> the sense that most people I ask have no awareness that sparrows are
> called anything else. I will keep searching. Thanks again.
>
> Yours sincerely
>
> Nick Uren
>
>
> On 14/11/2008, at 12:01 AM, Bill Jolly wrote:
>
>> Odd that my posting below, to which Philip refers, hasn't turned up
>> in my birding-aus inbox, although Philip's response to my posting
>> has! I can't work that out!
>>
>> Anyway, Philip asked me to clarify what I meant by ".......Tree
>> Sparrows (Passer montanus) of Chinese origin, which were introduced
>> to Melbourne and Tasmania in small numbers in the 19th century, but
>> have long since disappeared."
>>
>> What I meant, but didn't make clear, was that the Chinese Tree
>> Sparrows were likely of the race obscuratus, which I believe has
>> long been subsumed into the general mix of races that now makes up
>> Passer montanus in Australia.
>>
>> I'm pretty sure there was a paper in Emu some years back that
>> suggested that Aussie Tree Sparrows were an amalgum of at least
>> three races, presumably implying that a new trinomial was in order?
>>
>> I expect this is well-documented somewhere, but I'm not well up on
>> taxonomy at that level.
>>
>> Bill Jolly
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From:
>> To: ; ; birding-
>>
>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Sparrows
>> Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:51:01 +1100
>>
>>
>>
>> Very good answer from Bill. I would add that there are of course
>> many species of the genus Passer (which are the sparrows, the
>> nominate genus of the order, from which the word passerine is
>> derived) and only two of those were introduced to Australia.
>> America also has another different family of birds, many or maybe
>> all of which are called sparrows but these are not the same genus.
>>
>> The differences between the House Sparrow & Tree Sparrows are far
>> greater than just "physical differences between them mostly about
>> the head". They are very different in the extent of sexual
>> dimorphism and as a corollary or consequence in their social
>> behaviour. (This was the subject of a thesis I did a long time
>> ago.) The Tree Sparrows being very unusual among a group in which
>> most species are sexual dimorphic, in that the female plumage is
>> like the typical for the males of the genus.
>>
>> I would also add that the native finch the Diamond Firetail is also
>> unhelpfully called Diamond Sparrow sometimes.
>>
>> Philip
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