PALLAS S SAND-GROUSE 



97 



guished by the presence of a white ring round the neck, which is absenl in the 

 more southern forms. In the British Isles the so-called " Old English pheasant," 

 which appeared on the bills of fare long before the Norman Conquest, and is 

 thought to have been introduced by the Romans, is now rare owing to the intro- 

 duction of the Chinese ringed species (P. torquatus), with which it has been so 

 freely crossed that the present birds are nearly all hybrids, and, whether with or 

 without a white collar, combine in varying degrees the characters of both species. 

 Paiias-s sand- Pallas's three-toed sand-grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) inhabits 



Grouse. the Kirghiz steppe, and extends thence into northern China, It is 



/Si 



PALLAS S SAXD-GROFSE. 



specially characterised by the feathered feet and toes, the long and pointed wings, 

 and the wedge-shaped tail, of which the two middle feathers terminate in long 

 points. The general colour of the plumage is sandy, and the entire length about 

 15 inches. The back and shoulders are ornamented with black transverse markings, 

 and on the throat and along each side of the neck are patches of rusty red. There 

 are no black spots on the sides of the neck, but across the breast is a white band 

 streaked transversely with black, and there is a black transverse patch on the 

 abdomen. The colouring harmonises so well with that of the barren soil of the 

 native home of this species that at a distance of only forty feet the bird is 

 almost invisible. The hens lack the band across the breast, and the patches on 

 the throat and the sides of the head are buff". This sand-grouse walks with the 

 vol. n. — 7 



