PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE 



is marvellously protective, and matches excellently with 

 the sandy hue of the deserts in which they live. 



Sand-grouse are usually placed by scientific naturalists 

 in two genera, Pterocles and Syrrhaptes, of which the 

 former are by far the more plentiful. The Syrrhaptes — 

 found only in Asia— include only two species, of which 

 Pallas's sand-grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus) is one, the 

 other being the Tibetan sand -grouse {S. tibetanics). 

 These two species of Syrrhaptes are distinguished by 

 a most curious development of foot, which has been 

 most aptly likened to a "fingerless glove." The other 

 genus, Pterocles, is scattered widely over Africa and 

 Asia. Two out of the fifteen species, the common 

 and pin-tailed sand-grouse, are found in Europe, the 

 former in Portugal, Spain, and Southern Russia, the 

 latter occurring in the south of France as well as in 

 South Russia and the Iberian Peninsula. Singularly 

 enough, this sand-grouse is known in France as *'Le 

 perdrix d'Angleterre." Pallas's sand-grouse has a wide 

 habitat in Asia, ranging from Manchuria almost up to 

 the Ural Mountains and River. 



263 



