164 Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain on the 



IGO, Pterocles alchata alchata (L.). Pintail Saiul-Grouse. 

 Met with at Bordj Saada (J). 



161. Pterocles senegallus senegalliis (L.). Senegal Sand- 

 Grouse. 



Innumerable small flocks of this species at Bordj Saada on 

 April 27. Although this bird is found in such numbei's 

 and has such a wide range, the number of eggs in collections 

 is exceedingly small. Mr. Pearson took some clutches in 

 Sind in 1895 in mid-May : JNlr. A. G. Tomlinson obtained 

 a clutch near Bussorah on June 21, 1911, and the Tring 

 Museum contains a single egg from Mesopotamia taken 

 on May 15. Tristram (Ibis, I860, p. 71) states that he 

 obtained " only one nest/' and makes some remarks on the 

 eggs, but no specimens appear to have been included in his 

 collection. With this possible exception I am not aware of 

 any eggs having been previously taken in Africa in a natural 

 state, though they have been laid in confinement, and perfect 

 eggs have been taken from the oviduct. We were fortu- 

 nate in discovering a pair or two breeding in the southern 

 part of the plain of El Outaia, and a nest with two eggs 

 was found on Api'il 15, but unfortunately one was broken 

 by accident. The other is typical and measures 41*8 x 

 28-2 mm. (J). 



162. Caccabis petrosa petrosa (Gm.). Barbary Partridge. 

 Tolerably common in the scrub on the hills from Batua 



to Lamb^se : an incomplete clutch o£ five eggs found May 2, 

 1914 (J). General in the Aures range in February : also 

 at H. Meskoutine, where a clutch of four eggs was taken 

 April 7, 1911 (W). 



163. Caccabis petrosa spatzi Reich w. Spatz' Barbary 

 Partridge. 



This desert form is met with sparingly from El Kantara 

 to Bordj Saada, and several nests with ten or twelve to 

 fifteen eggs were found among bushes on hillsides and dry 

 watercourses between April 22 and 27 (J). 



