500 BIRDS or INDIA. 



ten ; when flushed, rises with a low chuckhng call, takes a short 

 flight at no great elevation, and drops into cover again. I have 

 very rarely seen it among rocks, where there was little or no 

 jungle. I have had the eggs hrought me, very cylindrical in 

 form, of a dull earthy green with a few dusky spots. On several 

 occasions I have observed in this species crepuscular, if not noc- 

 turnal habits. On one of these several flew round a field on 

 which I was encamped, near the Nerbudda, late one evening 

 when nearly dark, alighting every now and then, and again re- 

 suming their flight, which, being particularly noiseless, led me 

 to take it for some kind of Caprimulgus at first ; and more than 

 once I again noticed similar habits. 



P. hichtensteini is not unlike P. fasciatus, but differs in being 

 larger, with the nape, front and sides of neck, and the fore part 

 of the wing, prettily variegated. It fe common in Arabia, and 

 may occur as a straggler in Sindh, or in the Western Punjab. 



With the medial tail-feathers greatly lengthened {Pteroclurus, 



Bonap.) 



801. Pterocles alchata, Linn^us. 



Tetrao, apud Linn^us — Blyth, Gat. 1491 — Tet. chata, Pallas 

 — Gould, Birds of Europe, pL 258 — ' Solitary Rock-pigeon' of 

 some sportsmen. 



- The large Pin-tailed Sand-grouse. 



Descr. — Forehead and supercilia rusty fulvous, with a black 

 stripe behind the eye ; top of the head and nape fulvous with 

 black bands ; the general hue above, including the scapulars and 

 shoulders of the wings, is fulvous olive or greyish olive, shaded 

 with fuscous; the scapulars with a few black spots ; rump and 

 upper tail-covcrts bright pale fulvous with narrow black bars ; 

 lesser and median wing-coverts maronne, white tipped ; secondary 

 coverts fulvous Avith black lunules ; greater coverts and primaries 

 slaty blue on their outer webs, brow^n internally ; tail banded yellow 

 and black ; the median pair blackish on their attenuated portion ; 

 the outer feathers greyish, white ti[)ped and edged ; beneath, the 

 chin and throat are black, edged with rusty; lores and face rufous 



