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The Sind sparrow (''Passer pyrrhonotus'') is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found around the Indus valley region in South Asia. It is also known as the jungle, Sind jungle, or rufous-backed sparrow. Very similar to the related house sparrow, it is smaller and has distinguishing plumage features. As in the house sparrow, the male has brighter plumage than female and young birds, including black markings and a grey crown. Distinctively, the male has a chestnut stripe running down its head behind the eye, and the female has a darker head than other sparrow species do. Its main vocalisations are soft chirping calls that are extended into longer songs with other sounds interspersed by breeding males. Historically, this species was thought to be very closely related to the house sparrow, but its closest evolutionary affinities may lie elsewhere. Discovered around 1840, this species went undetected for several decades after its discovery. Within its Indus valley breeding range in Pakistan and western India, the Sind sparrow is patchily distributed in riverine and wetland habitats with thorny scrub and tall grass. During the non-breeding season, some birds enter drier habitats as they disperse short distances from their breeding habitat, or migrate into western Pakistan and the extreme east of Iran. Since this species is fairly common and expanding its range, it is assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. The Sind sparrow is social within small groups while feeding and breeding, and during its winter dispersal. It feeds mostly on seeds and less often on insects, foraging close to the ground. Nests are made in the branches of thorny trees, and are untidy globular masses constructed from grass or other plant matter and lined with softer material. Both sexes are involved in building the nest and caring for the young, and usually raise two clutches of three to five young each breeding season. ==Description== The Sind sparrow is very similar to the house sparrow, and both sexes resemble their counterparts of that species, but it is slightly smaller and males and females each have features that distinguish them as Sind sparrows. The Sind sparrow is long, while the common South Asian subspecies of the house sparrow, ''Passer domesticus indicus'', is about long. Wingspans range from , tails from , and tarsi measure . The breeding male has a short and narrow black bib and a broad chestnut eye stripe that does not meet the mantle.〔 The male has a grey crown and nape and a rufous lower back and rump. The female has a darker and greyer crown and cheek than the female house sparrow and the shoulder is darker chestnut.〔 The female Dead Sea sparrow of the subspecies ''Passer moabiticus yattii'' is also similar to the female Sind sparrow, but has yellow tinges on the underparts and sometimes on parts of the head. The bill is black on the breeding male and pale brown on the non-breeding male and female. With a culmen length of , the Sind sparrow is slightly smaller-billed than the house sparrow.〔 The Sind sparrow's chirping ''chup'' call is softer, less strident, and higher pitched than that of the house sparrow, and is easily distinguished.〔〔 The song of breeding males includes chirrups interspersed with grating ''t-r-r-rt'' notes and short warbles or whistles. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sind sparrow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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