Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 389 



still carries his coveted spiral horns through the African 

 bush thanks to their timely warning. 



They seem to breed in the rains, a time when travelling is 

 difficult in the Soudan, and I have never found their nests. 



289. Pterocles exustus (Temm.). 



The most abundant Sand-Grouse in the Soudan. It 

 occurs in the deserts of the northern part of the country in 

 immense numbers, but in the dry season always remains 

 within flying distance of the rivers. With its power of flight, 

 however, this distance is very considerable — fifty miles at 

 least, and probably much more. Desert-birds as they are, 

 Sand-Grouse are great drinkers. During the rains, when 

 pools of water are formed inland in the deserts, we see little 

 of them, but throughout the dry weather they visit the rivers 

 to drink every morning, coming week after week to the same 

 spots, where shelving sand-banks make access to the water 

 convenient for them. At this season they afford the best 

 bird-shooting in the country, and at one of their chosen 

 drinking-places, between 7.30 and 9 a.m. (according to the 

 distance they have to travel), they come to the water in 

 thousands. In twos and threes, in dozens and scores, in 

 battalions of many hundreds, until the air is full of them, 

 they come rushing from the desert, pitch at the water's edge, 

 secure a hasty drink, and are off again with little or no 

 delay. The flight may last for an hour or an hour and a 

 half, after which not a bird will be seen in the neighbourhood 

 until the next morning. 



Many of these birds must traverse very great distances. 

 West of Omdurman I have seen them crossing to the 

 river when I was thirty-five miles from it, the return flight 

 beginning to pass me little more than an hour later. 



290. Pterocles sexegalensis (Linn.). 

 a. $ . Omdurman, Jan. 3, 1903. 



The Spotted Sand-Grouse is a bird of the same dis- 

 tribution and habits as the last species, in company with 

 which it visits the rivers daily to drink, but it is very much 

 less abundant. 



