OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 25 



Family PTEROCLID/E. The Sand-Grouse. 



As this order contains but a single family, the characters that distinguish the 

 latter will be the same as those already given for the former. As supplementary 

 characters, however, may be mentioned the bill of the Sand-Grouse, which 

 resembles that of the Game Birds ; the long and pointed wings ; and the feet, which 

 are more or less covered with dense short plumes. The family is divisible into 

 two, if not three, fairly-marked genera, only one of which is represented in the 

 British avifauna, and that by a single species as an abnormal visitor. 



Genus SYRRHAPTES, or Three-toed Sand-Grouse. 



Type, SYEEHAPTES PAEADOXUS. 



Syrrhaptes, of Illiger (1811). The birds comprising the present genus 

 are distinguished by the absence of the hind toe. The wings are very long and 

 pointed, the outermost primary having the shaft terminating in an attenuated 

 filament ; the tail is cuneate, and the two central rectrices are much longer than 

 the rest. The metatarsus is very short, and clothed with feathers to the toes. 

 The bill is small and short, decurved from the base to the tip ; the nostrils basal and 

 almost hidden by feathers. Three toes in front and covered with feathers; soles 

 of feet rugose. 



This genus contains but two species, which are confined to the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, being inhabitants of the plains and deserts of Asia. One of these 

 species is an abnormal and irruptic migrant to Europe and the British Isles. 



These Sand-Grouse are dwellers on salt plains and deserts. They are birds 

 of sustained and powerful flight, and progress on the ground by running and 

 walking with short quick steps. They are given to much wandering within their 

 normal areas of dispersal. Their notes are said to be rather melodious. They 

 subsist chiefly on grain, seeds, and vegetable substances. Their nests are mere 

 depressions in the ground, and their eggs, usually three in number, are double 

 spotted and oval in form. Pairing habits unknown. 



