MISCELLANEOUS BIED&. 



157 



From a sporting point of view the first of these miscellaneous 

 species should have been the pin-tailed sandgrouse {Syrrhaptes para- 

 doxus). Properly speaking this is not a Chinese bird, but is only en 

 occasional visitor. Its true home is Mongolia, Siberia and the Steppes 

 of Central Asia, whence it invades South-eastern Europe, North China 

 and other neighbouring countries. About the size of a pigeon, which it 

 somewhat resembles in build and shape, it is a handsome bird of a 

 sandy colour with pretty markings. The female is barred; the male 

 spotted, the latter also having a reddish orange face; while in both 

 sexes there is a broad black band across the chest. The feet are very 

 short, thick and padded on the soles. They are also thickly feathered 

 so that they resemble in appearance those of a rabbit. The wings are 

 long, the first flight feathers tapering away to a fine point. This is also 

 the case with the tail feathers, from which fact the bird derives the first 

 part of its name, the second part, as might be supposed, referring, to 

 its partiality for sandy places. 



The Pintailed Sandgrouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus). 



Sandgrouse are sporting birds, well beloved of local shooting 

 men. They go about in large flocks, fly very fast and require a deal of 

 killing. They are given to flighting and in seasons when they are plenti- 

 ful excellent sport may be enjoyed with them. Sometimes they keep 

 very high and out of range, but this is only when they are on long 

 distance flights. Usually they keep low and offer splendid marks. 

 They only come southi in winter when severe weather (not cold) is 

 prevalent, and heavy falls of snow cover their feeding grounds in Mon- 

 golia. I have seen them in largo numbers on the Mongolian Plateau 

 just north of Kalgan as late as the end of April, and singly or in pairs 

 a little further north in the middle of summer. The furthest south I 

 have seen them is on the Tai-yuan Fu plain (Lat. 37° degrees N.), 

 though whether they ever get further south I could not say. 



