PTEROCLES. 525 



with blackish chestnut ; tail with the central feathers much elongated beyond 

 the rest, slightly darker buff than the wing coverts, black-shafted and the length- 

 ened narrow portion black ; lateral feathers dusky rufescent, with pale rufous 

 bars on their exterior webs, tipped white and with a subterminal dark band ; 

 a narrow black pectoral band, occasionally edged on its upper side with fulvous 

 white followed by a broad band of isabelline ; rest of the under parts choco- 

 late brown, paler on the vent ; flanks and thigh coverts chestnut ; lower 

 tail coverts creamy or fulvous white ; tarsal plumes fulvous or yellowish white. 



The female has the entire upper plumage, as also the space between the 

 pectoral band and abdomen, fulvous, closely barred with deep brown ; breast 

 unspotted isabelline, like the male. 



Length. 10 to 11*5 inches; wings 7 ; tail 3*5. The males average from 

 9-5 to 10 inches in length ; bill leaden brown; legs brown ; irides dark brown. 



Hab.-N.-~E. Africa, Arabia, Nubia, Egypt, Abyssinia and Palestine; 

 Sind, Kutch, Rajputana, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat and Deccan ; Punjab, 

 N.-W, Provinces, Bengal, Sylhet, Burmah, Beloochistan, Quetta and 

 Afghanistan. Breeds almost everywhere from February to August according to 

 locality, laying 2 3 eggs of a fine smooth texture and gloss, rather long and 

 cylindrical, of a pinkish stony colour, thickly spotted and streaked or irregularly 

 blotched with dark and light shades of olive brown and inky purple, varying in 

 length from 1*32 to r6 inches and in breadth from 0*95 to i'H. 



1182. Pterocles alchata, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 276; Gmel, Syst. 



Nat. i. 754; Lath., Ind. Orn. ii. p. 641 ; Licht., Verz. Doubl. p. 64; Jerd.> 

 B. Ind. iii. p. 500, No. 80 1 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 221 ; Blf., East. Persia ii. 

 p. 271 ; Murray, Hdbk. y ZooL, &fc., Sind. p. 197; Elliot, P. Z. S. 1878, 

 p. 251. Pterocles setarius, Tern., Pig. et Gallince iii. pp, 256, 714. The 

 PIN -TAILED SAND GROUSE. 



PLATE, fig. 6. 



Male. Forehead and crown, also the nape and sides of the face 

 yellowish buff with a ferruginous tinge ; the crown with some nearly obsolete 

 dark bars ; chin, throat and a streak behind each eye black ; neck in 

 front and upper breast greenish buff, the feathers above pale chestnut, those 

 of the breast with a dark brown transverse band forming a bar across ; lower 

 breast pale chestnut, the feathers ashy white at base, with a subterminal dark 

 or dusky bar, and broadly terminated with chestnut ; a black band separates 

 the chestnut breast from the white of the abdomen ; hind neck olive brown ; 

 upper back the same, each feather tipped with yellow ; lower back, rump and 

 upper tail coverts pale buff, with, in some, a rufescent tinge, barred trans- 

 versely with black ; scapulars rufescent or orange buff, the feathers barred 

 with black and tipped with yellow ; on some feathers this yellow tip is sub- 

 terminal, with a very narrow black margin at the extreme tip ; shoulder of wing 

 olive brown; lesser, median and greater coverts broadly maroon, bounded 



