Old World Sparrows (Passeridae)

Common Rock-sparrow (Petronia petronia) - HBW 14, p. 810

French: Moineau soulcie German: Steinsperling Spanish: Gorrión Chillón
Other common names: Rock Sparrow/Petronia, Eurasian/European/Streaked Rock-sparrow

Taxonomy: Fringilla Petronia Linnaeus, 1766, northern Italy.
Somewhat smaller birds from Caspian region E to Kyrgyzstan sometimes treated as additional race kirhizica, but differences from intermedia appear insufficient to justify separation. Six subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

petronia ( Linnaeus, 1766) - Madeira, Canary Is, and S Europe (including Mediterranean islands) E to Bulgaria and W Asia Minor.
barbara Erlanger, 1899 - Morocco E to NW Libya (S to 21° N).
exigua ( Hellmayr, 1902) - C Turkey E to Caucasus, N Iraq and N Iran (E to Gorgan).

See all 6 subspecies

petronia ( Linnaeus, 1766) - Madeira, Canary Is, and S Europe (including Mediterranean islands) E to Bulgaria and W Asia Minor.
barbara Erlanger, 1899 - Morocco E to NW Libya (S to 21° N).
exigua ( Hellmayr, 1902) - C Turkey E to Caucasus, N Iraq and N Iran (E to Gorgan).
puteicola Festa, 1894 - S Turkey S to C Israel, Syria and W Jordan.
intermedia E. J. O. Hartert, 1901 - lower Volga valley E to Aral Sea and E Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, S to SW & NE Iran, N Afghanistan and extreme NW China (W Xinjiang).
brevirostris Taczanowski, 1874 - S foothills of Altai, N & E Mongolia and SE Transbaikalia S to N & C China (Inner Mongolia S to N Sichuan).