202 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



smallest male (from Athi Station, Kenya Colony) ; wing 197, tail 

 70, culmen 17 millimeters. 



Both birds collected were molting the remiges. The molt starts 

 at the elbow joint and proceeds in both directions from that point. 

 New primaries have narrow, but distinct, white apical edges and can 

 easily be distinguished from old ones in which these edges are 

 worn off. According to Van Someren ^^ the breeding season in Kenya 

 Colony extends over August and September, " * * * though a 

 few birds also breed in January." It seems therefore, that the birds 

 molt their remiges while still caring for young, rather a remarkable 

 condition in birds that ^j considerable distances daily for water. 

 They are said to soak their breast and abdominal feathers in water 

 and then fly back to the young birds which are entirely dependent on 

 this source of water which they obtain by running the wet feathers 

 through their bills. Probably the replacement of the remiges is 

 gradual enough not to seriously impair the flight of the birds. It 

 is noteworthy that the body feathers of the underparts, the " water 

 carriers," so to speak, are not molted until later. 



This bird has a wide distribution, from northern Ethiopia and 

 Eritrea south to northern Tanganyika Territory, but it is rather 

 local throughout its range and never occurs in such enormous flocks 

 as some other sand grouse. Mearns saw as many as 200 on September 

 1 at Athi River, but never any masses of thousands such as are 

 recorded for Pterocles senegalensis. 



EREMIALECTOR LICHTENSTEINII ABESSINICUS (Geyr) 



Pterocles lichtensteinii ahessinicus Geiyb von Schweppenbttrg, Oru. Moiiatsb., 

 vol. 24, p. 57, 1916: Dire Daoua, Ethiopia. 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Bilan, Ethiopia, December 18, 1911. 



Male, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, February 2, 1912. 



Two females. Iron Bridge, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 4, 

 1912. 



Three males, one female, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 6-10, 

 1912. 



Male, Sagan River, Ethiopia, June 5, 1912. 



Soft parts: Male; iris, rich brown; naked skin surrounding eye, 

 greenish yellow ; toes and naked back of tarsus yellow ; claws, fleshy 

 brown. Female; iris dark brown; bare skin around eye apple green; 

 bill all brownish black; feet yellow; claws plumbeous black. 



Lichtenstein's sand grouse is a very variable species but its geo- 

 graphical races are hard to define because of the extent to which their 



"Journ. E. Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 29. April, 1927, p. 51. 



