THE SAND GROUSE 



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The pin-tailed sand grouse {Pteroclurus alchata) belongs to a genus 

 " . differing from the last by the elongation of the middle tail feathers, in 



Grouse tkis res P ec t resembling Syrrhaptes. This species ranges from Asia 

 Minor to India, while an allied western form (P. pyrenaicus) is met 

 with in North Africa and Southwestern Europe. Although the two are very similar, 

 the western bird has the wide chestnut band across the breast much darker, and the 

 marginal lines round the smaller feathers of the wing pale yellow instead of white. 

 In both the under parts are pure white, and the males have the throat black and the 

 upper parts dull olive blotched with yellow; while in the females the throat is white 

 and the upper parts are barred with black. The eastern form is a cold-weather visi- 

 tant to the northwest of India, where some of the sand grouse habitually associate 

 in such countless numbers, Mr. Hume stating that he has seen flocks of at least ten 

 thousand, while similar observations have been made in Mesopotamia and on the 

 shores of the Persian Gulf. 



A third member of the pin-tailed group is the common sand grouse 

 (/>. exustus}, which has the general color of the plumage yellowish 

 buff, shading into dark brown on the under parts in the male, while in 

 the female the breast and upper parts of the back are spotted with brownish black, 

 and the rest of the upper surface barred with the same color. This bird has a very 

 wide range, inhabiting the whole of India in localities where the rainfall is moderate, 

 the soil fairly dry, and the country open and tolerably level, and extending west- 

 ward across Asia and Northern Africa to Senegal. 



Common Sand 

 Grouse 



