236 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



They liave a very beautiful plumage, the back generally mottled with brown, black, 

 yellow, white, or rufous ; the breast sonielinies barreil with black, white, rej, or rich 

 biifr, and the lower jiarts deep buff, chestnut, black, or barred with black and white. 

 tSi/rr/iojJtes differs in the feathered tarsi and toes, as already mentioned, in tiie extremely 

 lengthened pointed wings, the first primaries of one species, S. paradoxus, being 

 attenuated, and tlie median rectrices of both species are lengthened and filamentous. 

 They are both Asiatic birds, but in 18G3 great numbers of S. paradoxus s\\([d<!\\\\, 

 from some cause never exjilained, invadeil Kurope and ])roceeded as far as Ireland in 

 the west, the Faroes in the north, and Perpignan in Krance t>n the south. In and 

 about Pekin and Tientsin they go in flocks of many hundred individuals, flying swiftly 





FUi. 112. — Pttrocttt nichntn, ttund-grouso. 



like plover, and, although shy when on the ground, yet on the wing will pass within a few 

 yards of :in observer. When flying, the species utters a note resembling " truck turucA;" 

 and, like all of the family, are accustomed to visit certain drinking-places every morn- 

 ing and evening. They feed chiefly on seeds, and dei>osit their eggs in the sand. 

 The female does not sit very closely, and leaves her eggs exposed to the weather 

 when she goes to drink, for these birds cannot exist long without water. The other 

 sjiecies, .S. thibctamtm, resembles its relative in its habits, is a native of Thibet, as its 

 name implies, and, when flying, utters a cry like "c<f</« <M(ja." 



The si>ecies of Pterocks resembles also very much, in their economy and habits, 

 those of the sjiecies of the genus Si/rr/uiptcs, fre(pienting sandy tracts, sometimes in 



