Great sparrow explained

The great sparrow (Passer motitensis), also known as the southern rufous sparrow, is found in southern Africa in dry, wooded savannah and towns.

This is a 15 - 16 cm long sparrow superficially like a large house sparrow. It has a grey crown and rear neck and rufous upperparts.^[1] ^[2]

While in the past some authorities considered this species and several related species of 'rufous sparrow' on the African mainland to be the same as the Iago sparrow of Cape Verde, they do not appear to be so closely related as thought. A few currently recognise only some of the rufous sparrows as separate from the great sparrow, but the Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International recognise the Socotra sparrow, Kenya sparrow, Kordofan sparrow, and Shelley's sparrow as separate species.^[3]

References

Works cited

Book: Clement . Peter . Harris . Alan . Davis . John . Finches and Sparrows . Princeton University Press . 1993 . Princeton, New Jersey . 0-691-03424-9 .
Book: Ian . Sinclair . Phil . Hockey . Warwick. Tarboton. SASOL Birds of Southern Africa. Struik. 2002. 1-86872-721-1.
Book: Summers-Smith, J. Denis . J. Denis Summers-Smith . The Sparrows . T. & A. D. Poyser . 1988 . Calton, Staffs, England . . 0-85661-048-8 . registration .
Book: Summers-Smith, J. Denis. del Hoyo, Josep. Elliott, Andrew. Christie, David. Family Passeridae (Old World Sparrows). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. 2009. Barcelona. Lynx Edicions. 978-84-96553-50-7.

External links

Southern Rufous Sparrow at the Internet Bird Collection
Great Sparrow species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

Notes and References

Book: Harrison, J. A.. Allan, D. G.. Underhill, L. G.. Herremans, M.. Tree, A. J.. Parker, V.. Brown, C. J.. Herremans, M.. 1997. Great Sparrow. The Atlas of Southern African Birds. BirdLife South Africa. 1.
Book: Jensen, R. A. C.. Great Sparrow. 650. The Complete Book of Southern African Birds. Ginn, P. J.. McIlleron, W. G.. Milstein, P. le S. 1989. Struik Winchester. Cape Town. 0-947430-11-3.
Kirwan. Guy M.. 2008. Studies of Socotran Birds III. Morphological and mensural evidence for a 'new' species in the Rufous Sparrow Passer motitensis complex endemic to the island of Abd 'Al Kuri, with the validation of Passer insularis Sclater & Hartlaub, 1881. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 128. 2. 83–93.