Buntings and New World Sparrows (Emberizidae)

House Bunting (Emberiza sahari) - HBW 16, p. 521

French: Bruant du Sahara German: Hausammer Spanish: Escribano Sahariano

Taxonomy: Emberiza sahari J. Levaillant, 1850, near Ghelma, between Ghardaïa and Ouargla, southern Algeria.
Often treated as conspecific with E. striolata, but constant differences in plumage and behaviour. Exhibits some variation in plumage tone: more richly coloured birds from SW Morocco sometimes treated as race theresae (described from Anja, in SW Morocco) and darker ones from S Mali as sanghae (from Sangha, near Bandiagara, in Mopti, in S Mali), but differences considered minimal. Treated as monotypic.

Distribution: NW Africa from Morocco and Mauritania patchily E to NW Chad.