PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE. 399 



primary shaft projected but very little. Tlie females 

 have the same bright reddish hue above the secondary 

 quills as in the males, and the abdominal band is in 

 some even deeper in colour and less mixed with buff. 

 All but one female I examined had elongated tail 

 feathers, and in this case they had evidently been shot 

 away: — Tail feathers in males: 6| inches, 7 inches, to 

 7^ inches. First primary of wing, measured from the 

 carpal joint : 8^ inches, 9 inches, 9| inches, 9t^- inches, 

 to 10 inches. Tail feathers in females : 3^ inches, 

 4 inches, 4 J inches, 5 inches, 5^ inches, to 6 inches. 

 Wings measui-ed as above : 8 inches, 8| inches, 8f inches, 

 to 9 inches. 



Tastes seemed to vary much respecting the edible 

 qualities of these strange birds, which, as far as my own 

 experience went, were in this respect, as much entitled 

 to their specific name of paradoxus, as for any of their 

 external peculiarities. Served up as " a delicious salmi" 

 at a dinner of the Acclimatisation Society, they were 

 said to have been pronounced " admirable," but here 

 at least they were tried under the most favourable 

 circumstances, being cooked to perfection by a master 

 of the culinary art. Without all these advantages, and 

 with the great drawback of wanting their natui-al skins, 

 the first brace I tried were undoubtedly dry eating and 

 somewhat taseless, but presented from the great depth 

 of the sternum, a fine "breast" in quantity if not 

 in quality. On the next occasion I had them baked, 

 with the addition of a beef- steak to assist in preserving 

 their natural juices, and found them much more tender 

 and palatable ; the flesh suggesting the flavour of majiy 

 things, though scarcely one in particular. I should 

 say, however, that they resemble the French partridge 

 as much as any other game bird, as they want the 

 pungency of the quail, to which they have been likened 

 by some who have eaten them. Their only resemblance 



