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sparrow
(redirected from Java sparrow)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
sparrow, common name of various small brown-and-gray perching birds. New World birds called sparrows are members of the finch finch, common name for members of the Fringillidae, the largest family of birds (including over half the known species), found in most parts of the world except Australia.
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 family. They were named for their resemblance to the English sparrow English sparrow or house sparrow, small bird, Passer domesticus, common throughout most of the world. English sparrows are 4 to 7 in. (10–18 cm) long, with short, stout bills.
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 and the European tree sparrow (members of the weaver bird weaver bird, name for the Ploceidae, a family of Old World seed-eating birds closely resembling finches (hence the alternate name weaver finch). It includes a number of so-called goldfinches and waxbill finches that are actually weaver birds, rather than true finches
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 family), both introduced in the Americas. Members of both groups have stout, conical beaks adapted to seed eating. Among the many sparrows found in the United States are the song sparrow, the white-throated sparrow (or peabody bird), and the chipping, white-crowned, vesper, Lincoln's, fox, field, tree, and swamp sparrows. Sparrows are valuable to farmers in destroying weed seeds. Originally sparrow meant any small bird; the word appears in this sense in Greek mythology and in the Scriptures.

sparrow

Enlarge picture
White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).
(credit: William D. Griffin)
Any of numerous species of small, chiefly seed-eating songbirds having a conical bill, particularly members of the Old World family Ploceidae, the house sparrow, and most members of the New World family Fringillidae. Some species of Fringillidae are common. The trim-looking chipping and tree sparrows have a reddish brown cap. The finely streaked savanna and vesper sparrows inhabit grassy fields. The heavily streaked song and fox sparrows are woodland dwellers. The white-crowned and white-throated sparrows are larger than most species and have black-and-white crown stripes.


sparrow
1. any weaverbird of the genus Passer and related genera, esp the house sparrow, having a brown or grey plumage and feeding on seeds or insects
2. US and Canadian any of various North American finches, such as the chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina), that have a dullish streaked plumage


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