Palcearctic Birds' Eggs. 487 



(3) PoDOCESPLESKii. Persian Ground-Chougli. (Plate X. 

 figs. 4, 6.) 



Podoces pleskii Dresser, Man. Pal. B. p. 407. 

 So far as I can ascertain, the only authentic eggs of the 

 present species are those obtained by Mr. N. Zarudny 

 in Persia, which now belong to the Imperial Zoological 

 Museum at St. Petersburg, for, although Mr. Zarudny sent 

 a clutch to me, they were lost on the way and were never 

 received. I am, therefore, indebted to Professor Bianchi, of 

 St. Petersburg, for the loan of the two eggs figured, which 

 were taken by Mr. Zarudny on the 27 April/10 May 1896. 



I am much obliged to Mr. Zarudny for the following notes 

 respecting the breeding-habits of the present species, which 

 are, he informs me, a brief abstract of an article by him, 

 published in Russian (Mem. de I'Acad. Imp. des Sciences de 

 St. Petersbourg, x. no. 1, 1900) :— 



" Podoces pleskii inhabits the dry, lonely plains of Eastern 

 and Central Persia, selecting such places for the purpose of 

 uidification as are more or less densely covered with shrubs 

 or low trees. The nests are placed on small elevations of the 

 ground among various kinds of desert shrubs. In outward 

 appearance, like those of Poduces jicinderi, they resemble the 

 nests of Bucanetes obsoletus, though naturally much larger. 

 Of many that I found, only one was placed on a 

 Pistacia-tree and very few on low trees {Haloxylon), 

 All the rest were in shrubs from two to three feet from 

 the ground, and in one instance, as stated below, only 

 about six inches from the ground. The birds are especially 

 fond of building in prickly shrubs, where the nests are very 

 difficult to get at, and the same bush is tenanted several 

 years in succession. In one shrub I found three nests placed 

 one above the other, the topmost of which was tenanted, the 

 central one having been occupied the previous year and the 

 bottom one, I suppose, the year before that. As in the case 

 of Podoces panderi, the nest has a light roof or dome in which 

 are two apertures, one for access and the other for egress. 

 The nest has two walls, the outer loosely constructed of 

 slight branches and small twigs — so loosely that the inner 



SER, IX. — VOL. II. 2 M 



