2 PTEROCLlDiE, 



Family PTEROCLID.E. 



Tarso-metatarsus very short and feathered ; toes feathered or 

 naked. Wings long and pointed. 



Ke>j to the Genera. 



I. Hallux absent. Middle tail-feathers elon- 



gate and pointed 1. Sybbhaptes, p. 2. 



II. Hallux present, but rudimentary. 



a. Middle tail-feathers elongate and pointed. 2. Ptebocldrus, p. 6. 



b. Middle tad-feathers not elongate 3. Pteeocles, p. 16. 



1, SYRRHAPTES. 



Type. 



Syrrhaptes, Illiger, Prodromus, p. 24-3 (1811) S. paradoxus. 



Nematura, Fisch. Mem. Soc. Mosc. iii. p. 271 (1812) . . S. paradoxus. 

 Heteroclitus, Vieill. Analyse, p. 53 (1816) S. paradoxus. 



Tarsi and toes feathered ; hallux absent ; middle tail-feathers 

 elongate and pointed ; wings long and pointed. 



Range. Asia ; Khirgiz Steppes to North China ; and North of 

 Lake Baikal. South to the Sutlej Yalley, 



Key to the Species. 



A. Abdomen with a veiy large black patch. 



a. Sides of the neck not spotted with black ; 



across the breast a zone of white feathers 

 each with a narrow transverse subterminal 

 black band. Throat dull rusty red, not 

 bounded by a black line paradoxus c? > p- 2. 



b. Sides of the neck spotted with black ; no 



pectoral zone, but a narrow black band 



terminates the pale butf throat paradoxus § , p. 2. 



B. Abdomen white. 



c. Black vermicidations on the back of the 



neck and interscapular region very fine 

 and gi'aduaUy becoming almost invisible 

 on the wing-coverts and scapulars tibetanus (S , p. 5. 



d. Black vermiculations on the wing-coverts 



and scapulars as large and clearly defined 



as on the upper parts of the body tibetanus 2 > P- '5. 



1. Syrrhaptes paradoxus. 



Heteroclite Grous, Lat/i. Gen. Syti. ii. p. 7o3 (1783) ; id. Gen. Hist. 



viii. p. 261 (1823). 

 Tetrao paradoxa, Pallas, Puss. Peic/is, ii. p. 712, pi. F (1773) fS. 



desert of Tartary] ; Miill. Suppl. Linn. S. N. p. 127 (1776) ; Pallas, 



Zoogr. Posso-Asiat. ii. p. 74 (1811) [Kirghiz Steppes]. 

 Tetrao paradoxus, Gm. S. N. i. p. 755 (1788); Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. 



p. 643 (1790) ; Bonn. Tabl. Enciicl. Meth. i. p. 205, pi. 93. fig. 1 

 ^ (1791). 

 Syrrhaptes paradoxus, Pliger, Prodromvs, p. 243 (1811) ; Licht. 



Verz. Boubl. p. 66 (1623) ; Wagl. Syst. Av. p. 286 (1827) ; 



