SAND-GROUSE. 41 



1856, when at night the thermometer fell to — 13° Edaumur, 

 and at midday rose to + 2°, the first flock of the present species 

 arrived at the Tarei-nor. They flew in close skeins like Plovers. 

 In the spring these flocks are composed of four or six pairs, 

 as the birds have then paired, but in the autumn more than 

 a hundred collect together in one flock. When on the wing 

 they utter a very audible cry, from which their Mongol 

 name (NjiipterjUn) is derived ; and the pairs fly close 

 together. A male, shot on the 17th (29th) March, had the 

 testes as large as a cedar-nut ; and late in March eggs are 

 to be found, for a female shot on the 30th March (11th 

 April) had an egg ready for exclusion in her ovary. This 

 Sand-grouse breeds twice, and sometimes three times, in 

 the season. On the 20th April (2nd May) I found fully- 

 formed young in three eggs in one nest, and the next day 

 I took two fresh eggs. On the 14th (26th) May I again 

 found fi-esh eggs. The young are certainly able to shift for 

 themselves when hatched, and this fact places them decidedly 

 near the Fowls, in spite of their manifold relationship to the 

 Pigeons, I first saw the young birds running after their 

 mother on the 30th April (12th May). In the morning, 

 especially in the spring, they visit the fresh water to drink 

 regularly at the same hour, and in April this was at nine 

 o'clock. Single pairs arrived from different directions, calling 

 and being answered by those which had already arrived, and 

 which they then joined : they stood on the edge of the water 

 in a line, usually eight to twelve together, not remaining there 

 long, but soon leaving, apparently to feed. They are fond of 

 the young juicy shoots of the Sallcornue, and regularly graze 

 on these as the Bustard does on some of the grasses. In the 

 spring I found the crop and stomach full of the seeds of the 

 Salsola. During the summer they are fond of basking in the 

 sun, and I then generally found several pairs together. Like 

 fowls, they scratch a hole in the greyish- white salty hillocks 

 which cover large tracts on the banks of the Tarei-nor, and 

 on which the salt-plants grow. I have often watched them 

 resting in these places ; at first they run about as if search- 

 ing for something, and then about eleven o'clock, when it 



VOL. Ill, G 



