PALLAS'S SANDGROUSE 



[ORDEB: Charadriiformes. FAMILY: Pteroclidce] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[r. C. R. JOC&DAIN. W. P. PYCRAJT. A. U THOMSON] 



PALLAS'S SANDQROUSE [Syrrhdptes paraMxus (Pallas). 

 French, syrrhapU (no popular name) ; German, SUppenhuhn ; Italian, 



I. Description. Pallas' s sandgrouse may be distinguished at once by the 

 shape of the sole of the foot, all the toes being enclosed within a common pad. 

 The hind-toe is wanting. There is a marked difference in the coloration of the sexes. 

 (PI. 93.) Length, 14*5 in. [368-29 mm.]. The male is a light sandy buff colour, 

 inclining to greyish on the crown, while the throat is yellow, deepening on the fore- 

 neck to rust colour. The fore-breast is greyish buff, bordered behind by a band 

 formed of three cresoentic lines of black on a white ground. The breast is sandy 

 buff, with a broad band of dark chocolate-brown across the middle ; the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts are white. The intencapulare and scapulars are of a sandy 

 buff, the former heavily barred with black, the latter, similarly barred, is marked 

 in addition with large spots of mahogany red. The wings are sandy buff, the 

 marginal coverts spotted with black : the major coverts sienna-red. The primaries, 

 the outermost of which are produced into filiform points, are lavender-grey with 

 broad white margins. The tail is dark grey, barred buff and tipped white, but the 

 two centre feathers are buff, barred with grey at the base and passing backwards into 

 long black filaments. The female is similarly of a sandy buff colour, the throat and 

 sides of the neck are pale yellow, the former bounded by a narrow line of black, 



