56 PTBROCLID.f:. 



S. F. vii, p. 86 ; Hume, ibid. p. 162 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game J3. i, 



,*rrfc _^1 . i i _ /^y.._. __ .. o/ \f\ i/r 7". ._ L* TS 'I* /tn^ f n .a* ^v 



B". 2nd ed. iii, p. 364 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 27. 



Pahdn bhat titar, Mat-ban, H. (N.W.P.) ; Palki, Belgaum ; Handeri, 

 Southern India ; Kal gowjal haki, Can. (Mysore) ; Sonda polanka, 

 Tamul. 



Coloration. Male. A narrow white frontal band followed by a 

 broader black band, behind which is a second white band, a black 

 spot over eye ; crown buff and black mixed ; hind neck buff, with 

 an olive tiuge ; back, scapulars, inner quills, rump, and tail with 

 broad buff and black cross-bauds, generally straight, but somewhat 

 arrowhead-shaped on the rectrices ; scapulars, later secondaries, 

 and tail tipped with yellowish buff; wing- coverts buff, olivaceous 

 near the shoulder, the inner coverts banded black and white, with 

 the tips ochreous buff ; winglet, primary-coverts, and quills dark 

 brown ; chin, throat, and fore neck ochreous buff ; a broad deep 

 ferruginous-chestnut gorget, then a pale buff band followed by a 

 black band ; behind this the abdomen is banded white and blackish 

 brown ; under tail-coverts buff and black like the tail ; wing-lining 

 light brown. 



Female buffy pale fawn, banded with black above and below, the 

 scapulars and tail tinged with chestnut ; head spotted with black, 

 throat more finely spotted ; quills as in the male. 



Tail of 16 feathers. 



Bill red ; orbital skin lemon-yellow ; irides dark brown ; feet 

 dull yellow, claws reddish (Jerdon). 



Length about 11; tail 3'5 ; wiug 6*5; tarsus -9; bill from 

 gape -6. 



Distribution. Peculiar to India and resident. Found in suitable 

 places throughout the greater part of the Peninsula, but not on the 

 Malabar and Bombay coast nor in the forest region north of the 

 Godavari and east of Haipur, Mandla, &c., nor in the low grounds of 

 the Carnatic. This Sand-Grouse is found throughout the Deccan 

 and the Central Provinces and as far south as Mysore, and is. 

 common in parts of Guzerat,Cutch, Bajputana,the N.'VV. Provinces, 

 and amongst the Sewalik hills of the N.W. Punjab, but does not 

 occur west of the Indus nor on the Gangetic alluvium. It is not 

 often found in thick forest or in alluvial plains, but is common 

 in scrub-jungle, on small rocky hills arid barren broken ground. 



Habits, $c. This, perhaps the most beautifully marked of all 

 Sand-Grouse, never occurs in large flocks, and is usually seen 

 singly or in twos or threes that rise with a cackling note from 

 amongst rocks and grass or bushes. It is crepuscular in its 

 drinking-habits, flying to water before sunrise and after sunset in 

 small parties, and often, in the hot weather, before dawn and after 

 dark. Like other Sand-Grouse, it often utters its trisyllabic call 

 on the wing. The eggs are similar in shape, gloss, and number to 

 those of other species of Pterocles, but the ground-colour is pale 



