SAND GROUSE. 



307 



insects, mixed with fine gravel." The female lays from two to 

 four eggs on the bare ground. 

 The best-known species — 



The Pin-tailed Sand Grouse {Pterocles alchata), a native of the southern 

 portion of Europe, the north of Africa, and the level and arid plains of Persia, 

 is particularly abundant in Spain, Sicily, and through the whole of the Levant, 

 and visits, at uncertain seasons and in small numbers, the southern provinces of 

 France. It is a bird of migratory habits, and, like its congeners, prefers wild 

 and barren districts. These birds abound in the stony districts beyond Jordan, 



Fig. 156.— The Paradoxical Sand Grouse (Syrrluiptes paradoxic). 



and are there known by the name of " Katta." Burkhardt says, " The quan- 

 tity oikatlas is beyond description: the whole plain seemed sometimes to rise, 

 and far off in the air they were seen like large moving clouds. In the moun- 

 tams of Edom they are in such numbers that two or three are often killed at 

 a time by a stick thrown among them by the Arab boys ; and such is their 

 abundance in some parts of the year, that an ass-load may be taken at one 

 shutting of the clasp-net." 



Their flesh, being black and hard, is never seen at the tables of the Franks, 

 but it is nevertheless eaten by the Turks. 



This grouse lays two or three eggs at a time, placed on the ground, without 

 any nest; they are as large as those of a pigeon, and of a greenish Wack: the 

 Arabs eat them fried in butter. 



Hasselquist and Burkhardt are both of opinion that this bird is the quail 

 (jselav) of the ancient Israelites. 



20 — 2 



