The Sand-Grouse. 



235 



t ma}' nest there more often than has been supposed. It is commonly distributed 

 throughout Europe and extends, in a slightl)- paler form, to Central Asia. 



It is easily recognised by the black spotting of the upper surface, which is of a 

 rudd}' brown colour, the greyish lower body and rump, the white tips to the tail- 

 feathers, the vinous colour of the throat and breast, and the scaly patch of black and 

 white feathers on the sides of the neck. The nest is a slight one of twigs, placed in 

 an evergreen bush, or in a hedge, and well concealed. The eggs are two, creamy 

 white, and measure about an inch-and-a-quarter in length. 



This eastern species, which inhabits the Peninsula of India 



and Burma, as far north as Manchuria and Japan, has been met 

 TURTLE-DOVE. J i 



■r , ■ 1 ,■ with on one occasion, when a specimen was procured near 



Scarborough on the 23rd of October, i88g. 



It is a little larger than the common Turtle Dove, and has the colours rather 



darker, especially on the under surface, where the vinous colour of the breast 



overspreads the abdomen as well ; the band at the end of the tail-feathers is bluish- 



gre^' instead of white. 



THE ORIENT.-\L 



The Sand-Grouse.— o/r/tr Pterocletes. 



These birds have many anatomical 

 characters which ally them to the 

 Pigeons, but in appearance they are 

 very like Game-birds, though they 

 differ from the latter in their short 

 legs and in the shape of the eggs, 

 which are oval and distinctly' double 

 spotted. 



Onlv one species 

 of S a n d - G r o u s e 

 has occurred in 

 Great Britain, and 

 this is a bird whose 

 home is the steppes of Central Asia. 

 Periodically, Pallas' Sand-Grouse comes 



PALLAS' 



SANU-GROUSE. 



(Syrrhaptes 



paradoxus.) 



Pallas' Sand-Grouse. 



