Passeridae
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| Passeridae | ||||||||||
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 Female Zebra Finch | ||||||||||
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Many: see text. |
The bird family Passeridae includes the Old World or true sparrows and, depending on the authority consulted, their close relatives, the estrildid finches.
The 25 species of true sparrow are native to Europe, Africa and Asia, but a few species, notably the House Sparrow have been introduced to other continents and are now virtually cosmopolitan. Most sparrows are small, plump, brownish or greyish seed eating birds with short tails and powerful short beaks.
Like the true sparrows, the estrildid finches are small, gregarious, and often colonial seed-eaters with short, thick but pointed bills. They are broadly similar in structure and habits, but tend to be very colourful and vary greatly in their plumage. About 140 species are native to the old world tropics and Australasia.
Some taxonomic schemes list the estralid finches as the separate family Estrildidae, leaving just the true sparrows in Passeridae, others regard the two groups as a single family. American sparrows are not closely related to the Passeridae, and are placed in the family Emberizidae.
For more detail, see sparrow and estrildid finch.