PTEROCLES LICHTENSTEINI ARABICUS 



277 



" This bird has precisely the same habits as the closely allied 

 Ft. fasciatus of India. It is rarely if ever seen on open sandy plains ; 

 like Ft. fasciatus, it keeps to bush and thin tree jungle, and is 

 usually found solitary, in pairs, or at the most two or three pairs 

 together. I once came upon a considerable flock in January, and 

 possibly at that time these birds may collect in large numbers ; but 

 in May, June, July, and August, it was rare to see more than four 

 together, except about watering-places. When disturbed, the Sand- 

 Grouse rises with a sharp cackling cry, affording a very difiicult 

 shot. It does not rise high, and usually settles again after a short 

 flight. All kinds of Fterocles, as is well known, fly to water at parti- 

 cular hours in the day, the hours varying with different species. 

 Ft. exustus drinks about 9 a.m. and i p.m. In the present case the 

 drinking hours are at daybreak, in the morning, and at dusk in the 

 evening, as is also the case with the Indian Ft. fasciatus, the crepus- 

 cular habits of which are mentioned by Jerdon {' Birds of India,' 

 vol. ii, p. 498), and have been noticed by myself also. In the 

 semi-desert country West and North-west of Massowah, in which 

 Ft. licldensteini abounds, and there are but few places where water 

 is found, the scene at each spring of an evening after a hot day 

 especially is very interesting. At Saati, Ailat, and Ain, there was a 

 constant rush of these birds from sunset till dark, and again in the 

 morning before sunrise. Singly and in small flocks, uttering their 

 pecular ' queep-queep ' like note, they flew up and down the water- 

 course on their way to and from the water, keeping only a few feet 

 above the bushes and low trees ; the noise of their wings being heard 

 in the dusk before the birds themselves appeared. Like all other 

 Sand-Grouse, they are excellent eating, the flesh being rather hard 

 but of delicious flavour ; and our party used generally to shoot a few 

 each evening, not an easy matter, for the great swiftness and power 

 of wing possessed by these birds rendered them, in the dusk especially, 

 by no means an easy shot. 



" Ft. lichtensteini appears entirely confined to the tropical coast 

 region. At some water in the Lebka Valley at Mohabar, only 

 2,000 feet above the sea, scarcely any come to drink in the evening, 

 and at higher elevation not any were met with." 



Occasionally, at all events, the Close-barred Sand-Grouse collects 

 in flocks of some size, for Yerbury ('Ibis,' 1886), speaks of finding 

 " a flock of eighty to a hundred individuals " at Shulaif near Lakey. 



