PTEROCLURUS SENEGALLDS 313 



In colour the eggs vary from a pale stone-buff or creamy-cafe-au- 

 lait to a somewhat greenish stone-colour, in all cases, however, of a 

 rather dull tint. They are marked all over with blotches, spots and 

 specks of pale, rather reddish, brown, and a few smaller spots and 

 specks of very dark amber-brown, in one or two cases almost black. 

 The paler markings are very irregular in shape, here and there 

 becoming broad, irregular lines rather than blotches, and in others 

 looking more like accidental smears than anything else. The 

 secondary markings are of pale-brown, very washed-out and ill- 

 defined, and pale lavender-grey or neutral tint. 



The twenty-four eggs of which I have been able to obtain 

 measurements average 40'1G X '28'2 mm. The maxima are 485 

 X 28'0 mm., and 400 X SO'O mm. The minima are 381 X 

 26'6 mm. 



Two eggs taken by Harrington Bulkley from the oviducts of 

 females shot by a Mr. Fletcher are now in my collection and are 

 included in the above averages, etc., but in colour both these are 

 pure white with a very fine close texture and quite unusually high 

 gloss. 



General Habits. — Captain C. E. S. Pitman sends me the following 

 interesting notes on this sand - grouse from Kut - el - Amara in 

 Mesopotamia : — • 



" This bird is very common in many parts of Mesopotamia but 

 is very unequally distributed and also varies greatly in numbers 

 from time to time in the same place. Its call may be syllabized 

 as ' wey-heu wey-heu ' or ' whit-hu whit-hu,' or sometimes ' wheet- 

 wheet whit-hu.' They are very noisy birds, and they can often 

 be heard long before the flocks come into sight. Their plaintive 

 whistling note, which carries to a great distance, is uttered l)oth 

 when the birds are on the wing in flight from one place to another, 

 and also when they are disturbed suddenly and take wing from the 

 ground. This was very noticeable on the night of the 7th -8th 

 March, when we were carrying out a night manoeuvre preparatory 

 to attacking the Digailah and Sinn positions. As we plodded along 

 over the desert we continually disturbed considerable numbers of 

 these birds which seemed to have ' packed ' for the night in great 

 numbers, though generally they are to be seen in pairs or singly, or 

 in quite small flocks of a dozen birds or less. 



"They come down to water both mornings and evenings after 

 daylight and before sunset. When at the water they seem to keep 



