winter to in the summer. The vocalisations of the Italian sparrow are similar to those of both the Spanish sparrow and the house sparrow. Its vocalisations carry better in natural environments than those of the house sparrow. The male gives a chreep call like that of the Spanish sparrow to proclaim nest ownership, and a faster version of this as part of courtship display. Male song patterns grade slowly into those of the Spanish sparrow across southern Italy, but in the area of overlap between the house and Italian sparrows, the two birds sound alike. Taxonomy The taxonomic status of the Italian sparrow has been a matter of debate. It has been variously regarded as a stable hybrid between the house sparrow and Spanish sparrow, or as a subspecies of either the house or Spanish sparrow. Many authorities, including the Handbook of the Birds of the World, recognise it as a separate species, if only for convenience. Others, including many conservation groups, consider the Italian sparrow a simple hybrid and ignore it. The chromosomes of Italian sparrows are distinct from those of the house sparrow, but mitochondrial DNA suggest a close relation to the house sparrow. A DNA analysis by Jo Hermansen, Glenn-Peter Sætre, and a group of other scientists from Norway published in Molecular Ecology in 2011 indicates that the Italian sparrow originated as a hybrid between house and Spanish sparrows. It has mitochondrial DNA from both parent species. Additionally, it is now breeding beside the Spanish sparrow without cross-breeding in areas where the species both occur. Although it hybridises with the house sparrow in a sparsely populated contact zone in the Alps, the contact zone is characterized by relatively abrupt changes in species-specific male plumage, suggesting that partial reproductive isolation based on plumage may also have developed between these two taxa. As a genetically distinct group that is reproductively isolated from the parental species, it must be recognised as a separate species, according to Hermansen and colleagues. Distribution and habitat The Italian sparrow is found in northern and central Italy, Corsica, and small parts of France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. Its distribution was described by Italian zoologist Enrico Hillyer Giglioli in 1881 as professing "'Conservative opinions'; for it keeps strictly within our current political frontiers". At the northernmost edge of its range in the southern Alps, there is a narrow hybrid zone about 20–30 km (12–20 mi) wide