236 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



They have a very beautiful plumage, the back generally mottled Avith brown, black, 

 yellow, white, or rufous ; the breast sometimes barred with black, white, red, or rich 

 buff, and the lower parts deep buff, chestnut, black, or barred with black and white. 

 Syrrhaptes differs in the feathered tarsi and toes, as already mentioned, in the extremely 

 lengthened pointed wings, the first primaries of one species, S. paradoxus, being 

 attenuated, and the median rectrices of both species are lengthened and filamentous. 

 They are both Asiatic birds, but in 1863 great numbers of S. paradoxus suddenly, 

 from some cause never explained, invaded Europe and proceeded as far as Ireland in 

 the west, the Faroes in the north, and Perpignan in France on the south. In and 

 about Pekin and Tientsin they go in flocks of many hundred individuals, flying swiftly 



"1 



V...-, 



FIG. 112. Pterocles alchata, sand-grouse. 



like plover, and, although shy when on the ground, yet on the wing will pass within a few 

 yards of an observer. When flying, the species utters a note resembling " truck turticJe" 

 and, like all of the family, are accustomed to visit certain drinking-places every morn- 

 ing and evening. They feed chiefly on seeds, and deposit their eggs in the sand. 

 The female does not sit very closely, and leaves her eggs exposed to the weather 

 when she goes to drink, for these birds cannot exist long without water. The other 

 species, S. thibetamim, resembles its relative in its habits, is a native of Thibet, as its 

 name implies, and, when flying, utters a cry like " caga caga." 



The species of Pterocles resembles also very much, in their economy and habits, 

 those of the species of the genus Syrrhaptes^ frequenting sandy tracts, sometimes in 



