Shaw's "Capsa Sparrow" alt. ditto Finch, hence [Fringilla] "Capsa" GMELIN 1789 .. (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Shaw's "Capsa Sparrow" alt. ditto Finch, and [Fringilla] "Capsa" GMELIN 1789 ...

Ouups! Following the winding trail of Laurent´s thread Caixana, (and my ow fumbling attempts to understand its meaning) I think I might have found the explanation of of a completely different bird, from a completely different part of the World, the all unknown scientific name ...

capsa as in:
• the invalid, unidentified "Fringilla capsa" GMELIN 1789 (here, p. 912) as [Fringilla] "Capsa"

Today's HBW Alive Key has it as:

capsa
Etymology unknown; ex “Capsa Sparrow” of Shaw 1738, “Dattier” or “Moineau de Datte” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Capsa Finch” of Latham 1783 (unident.; ?Bucanetes).

... which most likely refer to the ancient North African town Capsa (in Latin) a k a Gafsa (here or here), in central Tunisia, a town mentioned in Shaw's Travels or observations, relating to several parts of Barbary and the Levant (1738), on p. 209 (as "Gafsa, CAPSE or CAPSA"). The "Capsa Sparrow" itself is found on p. 253 (here, bottom of Page +254).

The same town is far easier to find in the 3rd Edition of the same book (1808), in vol. 1, (here) where old Capsa is mentioned several times (here); on pp. 94, 199, 212, 229, 232, 233, 234, 337 (the Sparrow itself) and 348. Here.

It´s just an idea ... for what it´s worth!

Björn

PS. Regarding the birds identity:

To the little thick billed Birds, we may add the Cap∫a Sparrow, which is as big as the common House Sparrow, and as often seen in the Date Villages, to the westward of the Lake of Marks, ... It is all over of a Lark Colour, excepting the Breast, which is somewhat lighter, and shineth like That of a Pigeon. This Bird hath an exceedingly sweet and melodious Note, infinitely preferable to That of the Canary Bird, or Nightingale. (Shaw, 1738)

Anyone feel like trying to identify it?
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[l_raty]

The species I would expect in this context ("often seen upon the houses in the date villages") is House Bunting.

(All over more-or-less-brownish, excepting the breast (ok: and head), which doesn't really shine but is of a colour not-that-far from that of a pigeon... (Was the meaning of 'to shine' in 1738 the same as today? The related Dutch 'schijnen' also means 'to seem' or 'to appear'.) They can certainly sing a lot -- whether the song is preferable to that of a nightingale is a arguably matter of taste .)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Latham's "Capsa F. [Finch]" of 1783 (here):

THIS has a short, thick bill; the upper mandible black, the under yellowish ; about the gape a few bristles : the fore part of the head, and throat, are white : the rest of the head, the neck, the upper and under parts of the body, grey, more or less inclining to red, but most so on the breast* : the wings and tail are black; the last rather forked ; the wings reach two-thirds on the tail : legs yellowish.

This bird is met with in Abyssinia, and is also found in Barbary, to the south of Tunis: it flies in flocks, and is frequent about granaries, &c. like our Sparrow : often seen in the date villages to the west of the Lake of Marks : has an exceeding fine note, much better than that of a Canary-bird or Nightingale ; but will not bear transporting from its native place.

* Shaw makes it all over of a Lark-colour, except the breast, which is lighter, and shines like that of a Pigeon. He says it is as big as a Sparrow.

In my mind not as fitting for House Bunting ...

 

[l_raty]

Latham's "Capsa F. [Finch]" of 1783 (here): In my mind not as fitting for House Bunting ...

True.
Hard to understand how anyone once concluded the Abyssinian and Tunisian birds had to be the same thing, actually.

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Buffon, oiseaux, iii, p.487 (Latham's other source): [here].

IV.
LE DATTIER ou MOINEAU DE DATTE
M. Shaw a parlé de cet oiseau dans ses Voyages sous le nom de moineau de Capsa, & M. le Chevalier Bruce m'en a fait voir le portrait en miniature d'après lequel j'ai fait la description suivante.
Le moineau de datte a le bec court, épais à la hase & accompagné de quelques moustaches près des angles de son ouverture, la pièce supérieure noire, l'inférieure jaunâtre ainsi que les pieds, les ongles noirs, la partie antérieure de la tête & la gorge blanches, le reste de la tête, le cou, le dessus du corps & même le dessous d'un gris plus ou moins rougeâtre; mais la teinte est plus forte sur la poitrine (d) & les petites couvertures supérieures des ailes; les pennes des ailes & de la queue sont noires, la queue est un tant soit peu fourchue, assez longue & dépasse l'extrémité des ailes repliées des deux tiers de la longueur.
Cet oiseau vole en troupes, il est familier & vient chercher les grains jusqu'aux portes des granges. II est aussi commun dans la partie de la Barbarie, située au sud du royaume de Tunis, que les moineaux le sont en France, mais il chante beaucoup mieux, s'il est vrai comme l'avance M. Shaw que son ramage soit préférable à celui des serins & des rossignols (e). C'est dommage qu'il soit trop délicat pour être transporté loin de son pays natal; du moins toutes les tentatives qu'on a faites jusqu'ici pour nous l'amener vivant ont été infructueuses.

(d) M. Shaw parle de quelques reflets qu'il a aperçus sur la poitrine. Travels, page 253.
(e) J'aurois été tenté à cause du joli ramage de cet oiseau de le ranger avec les serins, mais M. le Chevalier Bruce qui l'a beaucoup vu, & à qui j'ai fait part de mon idée, a persisté dans l'opinion où il étoit qu'on devoit le rapporter aux moineaux.

(IV.
THE DATEBIRD OR DATE SPARROW.
Mr. Shaw wrote about this bird in his Travels under the name of Capsa sparrow, & M. le Chevalier Bruce let me see a miniature portrait of it, from which I made the following description.
The date sparrow has the bill short, strong at the base & with some whiskers near the corners of the aperture, the upper piece black, the lower one yellowish as well as the feet, the nails black, the fore part of the head & the throat white, the rest of the head, the neck, the upper body & even the underparts gray, more or less tinged reddish; but the tinge is stronger on the breast (d) & on the lesser wing coverts; the feathers of the wings and tail are black, the tail is a little bit forked, fairly long & passes the tip of the folded wing for two thirds of its length.
This bird flies in flocks, it is familiar & comes to take the grain up to the doors of the barns. It is as common in the part of Barbary, lying to the south of the kingdom of Tunis, as sparrows are in France, but it sings much better, if it is true, as Mr. Shaw puts it forward, that its song is preferable to that of serins & nightingales (e). It's a pity that it is too delicate to be brought far away from its natal country; at least all the attemps that have been made up to now to bring it alive have been fruitless.

(d) Mr. Shaw writes about some reflections that he saw on the breast. Travels, p. 253.
(e) I'd have been tempted because of this bird's nice song, to sort it with serins, but M. le Chevalier Bruce, who saw it a lot, & to whom I exposed my idea, persisted in the opinion where he was that it is to be placed with sparrows.)

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Gmelin's diagnosis [other, direct link] fits the discription of Latham, as (mainly) taken from Buffon, who based it on an illustration he received from M. le Chevalier Bruce:

Fr. ex rubescente grisea, fronte gulaque albis, alis caudaque nigris.

(= Fringilla, of a reddish grey [colour], with white forehead and throat, with black wings and tail.)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

...
Hard to understand how anyone once concluded the Abyssinian and Tunisian birds had to be the same thing, actually.
...

Could be a question of females vs males?

Either way, I´ve still no idea of it´s identity.

Björn

PS. Some words by "Chevalier Bruce", here (I think), p.218.
__

 

[l_raty]

Either way, I´ve still no idea of it´s identity.

I added Buffon's text and my translation of it in my post above.
I went rapidly through Abyssinian passerines in a field guide; didn't find anything matching the description closely, nor even half-closely (i.e., there are no thick-billed grey sparrow-like birds with black wings and tail in Abyssinia), which leaves me thinking that Buffon's description is likely very rough, possibly misleading.

 

[l_raty]

PS. Some words by "Chevalier Bruce", here (I think), p.218.

It's not about the sparrow.
But Bruce there reports having seen a type of wild goat in Abyssinia, similar to one he had seen earlier near Capsa in Barbary.
If Bruce had been to Capsa as well, he may be at the origin of the idea that the same bird would be present in both places, and this idea may be based on information that we can't see in the published works.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Ok, thanks Laurent, that I´m sure of: it´s not a goat!

 

[l_raty]

Still wondering about House/Striolated Bunting, actually.

In Abyssinia that would be Striolated, which is greyer-bodied than sahari; the reddish tone in the wing coverts (in Buffon's description, omitted by Latham) would in fact fit this species quite well; the reddish tone on the breast might in fact have been derived by Buffon exclusively from Shaw's text (footnote citing Shaw, associated to this character in the description), which is not clear in my opinion.
The bicoloured bill is certainly OK. A longish, notched tail is OK as well. (And these two characters exclude a lot of other things, actually.)
The legs may be pinker than yellow in real life, and the nails are often pale, but these are minor discrepancies.
The "black" wings and tail may appear off, but if you omit the edges and accept that, for the wings, this applies only to the flight feathers proper (Buffon's "les pennes des ailes" would fit that; and, again, although this was omitted by subsequent writers, Buffon said the coverts were reddish), those feathers are actually mostly black or blackish.
The description of the head may be the most disturbing thing. (But, still, it is not very clear, and probably open to interpretation. Couldn't "la partie antérieure de la tête" (the fore part of the head) refer to the eyebrow? The throat is not white, but the submoustachial is, and in a profile illustration the difference might not be clear.)

 

[mb1848]

Temminck in his Manuel (1840) states that Striolated Bunting winter on the Barbary.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/225348#page/345/mode/1up .
As to Ethiopian birds looking like Barbary ones, "a Striolated bunting population from Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the adjacent countries (E. s. saturiator*) that has House bunting-like features and has been regarded in the past as an intermediate between striolata and sahari. Kirwan & Shirihai (2007) argued, however, that it’s evidently a form of Striolated bunting, and that its House bunting-like features evidence recent hybridisation." The Tet Zoo tour of Libya (part II): of larks and buntings, D. Naish 2009.

 

[l_raty]

There are undoubtedly House Buntings (formerly treated as conspecific with Striolated (or Mountain) Bunting) in Gafsa=Capsa nowadays.
http://www.pbase.com/image/42096721

Kirwan & Shirihai 2007 is [here]. It has pics of saturatior skins from Ethiopia, but none of live birds. (But there are two videos in the [IBC].)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks Laurent for adding the English translation of Buffon's text ...

However I´m not all convinced regarding Striolated/House, even if the description of characters (partly) fits, especially as Striolated, in my mind, is a rather shy speces, not likely to be "seen in villages" or "flies in flocks, ... familiar ... as sparrows in France". Surely, as you noted, the striking head pattern would have been better described? And would Buffon really have considered (either one) "to sort it with serins"? Either way; I cannot think of any better candidate/s ...

I´ve tried to find the "portrait en miniature" by Chevalier Bruce, but this far no luck.

There´s, of course, always the possibility that "Capsa Sparrow" is, was a today extinct species!?

Or a relict population of a today more southern bird.

Other birds found in Gafsa (old Capsa), here.

Björn

PS. Also consider the fact that "Chevalier Bruce" [who I think must be the Scotish explorer James Bruce (1730–1794), here] personally didn´t think much of the illustrations made from Buffon's collection: " ... his birds in general are so very ill-drawn, and his coloured ones so shamefully daubed, that nothing certain can be founded upon resemblande." (here)

Mr. Bruce was quite harsh as an Art critic!
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[l_raty]

Mmh. Just re-read the above, and a question occurred to me... Where does the information that this bird is found in Abyssinia actually come from?
Latham wrote this, but his info was presumably not first-hand. He cited Buffon and Shaw, but both only wrote about the bird occurring in 'Barbary' (= basically, N Africa west of Egypt), not in Abyssinia. The only place where Abyssinia is indeed mentioned (sort of...) in his sources, is in the footnote on the first page of Buffon's account:

(c) M. le Chevalier Bruce, après avoir attentivement examiné cet oiseau, l'a reconnu pour être le même que le mascalouf d'Abyssinie.

...but this footnote is about the preceding bird described by Buffon, not about the 'date sparrow'.
Of course, if Bruce had travelled to Abyssinia and not to Barbary, it might be justified to infer from his interventions here that the bird had to be Abyssinian as well. But this doesn't seem to have been the case, see post #7 above.

(Latham appears to have distorted Buffon's text on more than one account -- omitting the rufous tones on the wing coverts, writing about black 'wings' instead of black quills, making the tail 'rather forked' while Buffon said just a tiny little bit, making 'the wings reach two-thirds on the tail' while Buffon said two-thirds of the tail extended past the wings. So I'm now wondering if he did not also add Abyssinia to its range, possibly based on this unrelated footnote...)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Bruce visited "Gaffsa" (Capsa), 23-29 December 1765, at least according to the book Travels in the footsteps of Bruce in Algeria and Tunis, illustrated by facsimiles of his original drawings (1877) by Sir Robert Lambert Playfair, here (p.267).

However no "Sparrow" (or Finch) found among the "facsimiles of his original drawings".

 

[l_raty]

PS. Also consider the fact that "Chevalier Bruce" [who I think must be the Scotish explorer James Bruce (1730–1794), here] personally didn´t think much of the illustrations made from Buffon's collection: " ... his birds in general are so very ill-drawn, and his coloured ones so shamefully daubed, that nothing certain can be founded upon resemblande." (here)

Interesting comment.
Perhaps another testimony to be added to the discussion of the recent re-identification of Paradisea superba...?

 

[mb1848]

Travels in the great desert of Sahara in the years of 1845 & 1846
James Richardson
P. 29.
In Ghat. A small bird not much bigger than a wren flits about the house as our sparrow. This is probably the Jereed sparrow of Shaw, Bou Habeebe or Capsa-sparrow, but I saw it at no other oasis except Ghat. It is of a lark colour with a light reddish breast flitting about continually twittering a short and abrupt note but very sweet and gentle.
Page 146 My sweetest enjoyment in Ghat is to listen to the song of the tiny singing sparrows hopping about my terrace. My days of childhood return with their song when if I were not innocent a little matter made me happy. Sing on you pretty little things tune your wild Sahara notes for you gladden my sad heart.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Sorry to be picky, Mark, but it says: "This is probably the Jereed sparrow of Shaw, Bou Habeeba, or Capsa-sparrow, ..." (here)

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[l_raty]

Bou Habeebe

"طير بوحبيبي" = "Bouhabeebe bird": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1s_PSvVgI4

 

[KC Foggin]

English only please Laurent

 

[l_raty]

Sorry KC, not being really clear here, I admit. Thus:
I just searched how to write Bou Habeebe (in French it would be written Bou Habibi) in Arabic (which is بوحبيبي, thus), because this looked reasonably like a local name.
This Youtube video is the first hit I get when I search Google for this word.