SAND-GROUSE 809 



however, contrived to get through another winter in Great Britain, 

 and if rumour may be credited, all had not disappeared even in 

 1892, but this is by no means certain. The interest attaching to 

 the several European irruptions has almost made ornithologists for- 

 getful of the somewhat similar inroad upon the plains between 

 Pekin and Tientsin in China in the autumn of 1860, which affords 

 another proof of the propensity of the species to irregular 

 migration. 1 



Externally all Sand-Grouse present an appearance so distinctive 

 that nobody who has seen one of them can be in doubt as to any 

 of the rest. Their plumage assimilates in general colour to that of 

 the ground they frequent (cf. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, p. 336), 

 being above of a dull ochreous hue, more or less barred or mottled 

 by darker shades, while beneath it is frequently varied by belts of 

 deep brown intensifying into black. Lighter tints are, however, 

 exhibited by some species the drab merging into a pale grey, the 

 buff brightening into a lively orange, and streaks or edgings of an 

 almost pure white relieve the prevailing sandy or fawn-coloured 

 hues that especially characterize the group. The sexes seem 

 always to differ in plumage, that of the male being the brightest 

 and most diversified. The expression is decidedly Dove-like, and 



so is the form of the body, 



s / but their appearance when 



i A ~ f f flying in a flock is more like 



jTJ[A- that of Plovers. 2 The long 

 wings, the outermost primary 

 of which in Syrrhaptes has 

 its shaft produced into an 



SYRRHAPTES ON THE WING. , j 01 



(Wilton, Norfolk, sth October 1888.) attenuated filament, are in 



all the species worked by 



exceedingly powerful muscles, and in several forms the middle 

 rectrices are likewise protracted and pointed, so as to give to their 

 wearers the name of Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse. The nest is a shallow 

 hole in the sand. Three seems to be the regular complement of eggs 

 laid in each nest, but there are writers who declare (most likely in 

 error) that the full number in some species is four. These eggs are 

 of peculiar shape, being almost cylindrical in the middle and nearly 

 alike at each end, and are of a pale earthy colour, spotted, blotched 



1 It appears to be the "Barguerlac" of Marco Polo (ed. Yule, i. p. 239) ; and 

 the "Loung-Kio" or "Dragon's Foot," so unscientifically described by the Abbe 

 Hue (Souvenirs d j un Voyage dans la Tartarie, i. p. 244), can scarcely be any 

 thing else than this bird. 



2 I write with especial reference to Syrrhaptes, a flock of which may be easily 

 mistaken for one of Golden Plovers, as the figure shews, though the former have 

 the wing more curved and keep stroke with far more regularity, their ' ' time " 

 (as an oarsman would say) being absolutely perfect. 



CLL 



