490 SAXD-GROUSE. 



winter to the plains of Pecliili in China. On the high table-lands 

 of Tibet its representative is its sole congener, S. tibetamis. 



The eggs, usually 3 in number, are laid in April or May, in a 

 hollow scratched in the sandy soil ; they are elliptical in shape, and 

 stone-buff blotched with purple-brown in colour : average measure- 

 ments I '5 by I'l in. Both sexes appear to incubate, as a male 

 was shot off one of the clutches of eggs obtained by Mr. Swailes. 

 The note has been rendered as iruck-turiik, or whirk, whirr, or 

 again as chak^ chak. The food consists of seeds of plants, such as 

 chick-weed and corn-spurrey, as well as of seeds of clover, turnip 

 and rye ; with some insects. The flight is rapid, and very like 

 that of the Golden Plover. The birds have a habit of almost 

 burying themselves in the sand, with which their colour closely 

 assimilates. 



The adult male has the head yellowish-grey ; chin whitish, throat 

 pale rust-colour ; back, scapulars and rump warm buff, barred with 

 black ; quills bluish-grey, as are the long and pointed central tail- 

 feathers ; neck and breast greyish-buff, crossed by a mottled black 

 gorget ; belly banded with black ; feathers of the vent and of the 

 feet down to the toes dull white. Length 1475 •"• j vving 9-1 in. 

 In the female the head and sides of the neck, and the upper parts 

 generally, are striped and spotted with black, a band of the same 

 colour crossing the upper throat ] the general hue is duller, and the 

 central tail-feathers are shorter. The young resemble the adult 

 female, but have all the neck and chest spotted with irregularly- 

 shaped blackish-brown marks, and the black bars on the inter- 

 scapular region and the round subterminal spots on the less and 

 median wing-coverts much less regular, being broken up into 

 variously-shaped marks ; the filiform ends to the primaries and the 

 tail-feathers (which are conspicuous in the adult) are not developed 

 (Ogilvie Grant). 



