SAND-GROUSE, PARTRIDGES. CHIOXID^E. 483 



form of their tails ; their bills are short and highly arched. They 

 are natives of the sandy plains and rocky deserts of Africa, Asia, 



and the southern districts 

 of Europe. They are Birds 

 of powerful andrrapid flight. 

 and love to wander from 

 place to place, sweeping 

 over the hot and arid soli- 

 tudes in which they find a 

 congenial abode. Though 

 they repair in large flocks 

 to localities in which they 

 can obtain water, they are 

 not truly gregarious, but 

 i-iu. 274.-GHEY PTARMIGAN. disperse themselves in pairs 



over their feeding grounds. They are so abundant in some dis- 

 tricts, that when they rise on the wing, they seem at a distance like 

 large clouds. The Partridges and Quails, unlike the other birds of 

 this family, frequent the neighbourhood of Man, resorting for their 

 food to cultivated grounds, and finding shelter in the enclosed 

 fields. They run with great speed ; and have a strong, steady, 

 uniform flight, performed by regular beats of the wings, and pro- 

 ducing a whirring sound ; but they generally prefer skulking, to 

 avoid danger. They nestle on the ground, and bear a numerous 

 progeny ; seldom breeding, however, more than once in a sea- 

 son. Two species of Partridges, the Common and the Guernsey 

 Partridge, are found in this country, which is also visited in the 

 summer by the Common Quail. In North America their place is 

 taken by some allied birds, forming the genus Ortyx, in which 

 the lower mandible has two teeth on each side near the point. 



434. The CIIIONID^E, or Sheath-bills, resemble the Grouse, 

 l.ut have the nostrils surrounded by a kind of sheath. They are 

 inhabitants of the southern hemisphere, where they represent 

 the Tetraonidrc of the northern. Some of them bear a strong 

 resemblance to the Snipes, Plovers, and Sand-pipers among the 

 Waders ; and the Sheath-bill of the Southern Ocean frequents 

 the shores, feeding on sea-weed and mollusks, and sometimes 



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