

SAND-GROUSE. 39 



nomads told him that they had not previously observed 

 them. Eastwards, Pallas's Sand-grouse is found throughout 

 the sandy wastes of Turkestan to Samarcand ; throughout 

 the Kirghiz steppes to Lake Balkash ; in the deserts at the 

 foot of the Tian Shan range ; and in hoth the steppes and 

 the deserts of Mongolia, and in the basin of the Tarei-nor. 

 Colonel Prjevalsky * states that in summer it goes north 

 even beyond the shores of Lake Baikal, where it breeds ; 

 spending the winter in those parts of the Gobi Desert which 

 are free from snow, and in Ala-shan, where it is met with 

 from October onwards in flocks of several thousands. Some 

 winter in the Hoang-ho Valley in South-east Mongolia, and 

 during severe weather the plains between Tien-sin and Pekin 

 and of the Pechili are covered with them ; the natives, who 

 call them "Sha-chee," taking numbers of them with nets.f 

 Southwards, this species extends to Koko-nor and Tsaidam, 

 but it does not ascend to Kansu or Northern Thibet, being 

 there replaced by the only other known species of the genus, 

 Syrrhaptes thibetanus,a,n inhabitant of much greater altitudes. 



These enormous flocks feed largely on the seeds of Agrio- 

 phyllum gobicum, so that the number of wintering birds 

 depends on the supply of that food, although they occasion- 

 ally feed on other seeds and berries. In the crops of some 

 of those killed in Norfolk only the seeds of plants proper to 

 the sandy coast were found, without any trace of animal or 

 mixed food ; the gizzards containing an enormous quantity 

 of small stones and sand. They drink several times a day, 

 preferring fresh to brackish water. 



Most observers agree in describing the flight of this Sand- 

 grouse as much resembling in its style and rapidity that of 

 the Golden Plover. Prjevalsky says that when a large flock 

 is on the wing, the noise is like the sighing of the wind and 

 can be heard at a considerable distance. In the air the male 

 birds utter a peculiar note, like " truck-turuk, truck-turuk" 

 especially when in small flocks. 



Prjevalsky states that the complement of eggs is three, 

 which is the usual number with other Sand-grouse. In the 



* In Rowley's Miscellany, pt. ix. p. 382. f Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 341. 



