244 GAME-BIBDS OF INDIA 



presented by Hodgson, and it has been procured near Lucknow and 

 again a little further east and south near Allahabad. To the north- 

 east it has been obtained both in Kashmir and Gilgit, in the former 

 by Major Stone and in the latter state by Colonel Biddulph, and in 

 Chitral by Major Stirling. 



According to Jerdon, Colonel Chesney found this species extremely 

 common in Arabia, but Hume discredits the accuracy of this record 

 on the ground that, zoologically, Turkish Arabia or Mesopotamia is 

 more nearly allied to North-east Africa than to Europe or Asia. 



Captain C. R. S. Pitman saw four of these Sand-Grouse at 

 Kamait, a short distance north of Kut-el-Amara, on the 29th January, 

 1916, and again met with flocks somewhat south of this at Said 

 Hashim on the 16th February, and again at Abu Roman, eight miles 

 east of Sinn, on the 27th February. One of these birds settled 

 close to him and began to feed, whilst others were flying about close 

 by. Again, during the night-march to Sinn on the 7th to 8th 

 March and during the action of the 8th, a fair number of these 

 birds were seen and put up, so they are certainly not very rare 

 as far north as this latitude. 



Many other observers frequently met with it during the campaign 

 in Mesopotamia, and there is no doubt it is almost common over 

 much of that country. 



The Imperial Sand-Grouse has also been obtained from the Saiar 

 Mountains in the extreme south of Palestine by St. George Littledale, 

 and it, apparently, is found thence northwards and eastwards through 

 Palestine, to Aleppo and Diarbekir in Kurdistan. 



Nidification. — According to Whitaker " like all its congeners the 

 present species is monogamous and rather a late breeder, though not 

 as late as stated by most authors, and I have obtained full clutches of 

 eggs by the middle of April. The nesting season of the species, 

 however, continues throughout that and the following month and 

 probably also throughout June." 



Although the Large Sand-Grouse has never been found breeding 

 within Indian limits, its eggs were taken by Lieutenant E. Barnes at 

 Chaman, Afghanistan, on the 1.5th May, and it is quite possible, 

 therefore, that it may be found breeding occasionally in Bind or the 

 South-east Punjab. 



