40 PTEROCLID^. 



beginning of June he found in Ala-shan three nests with three 

 eggs in each, one set heing quite fresh, the two other sets 

 very much incubated. It will be remembered that three was 

 the largest number of eggs found in one clutch in Denmark, 

 and three is well known to be the complement of eggs with 

 other members of the Pteroclidce. Herr Kadde, however, 

 who had excellent opportunities of observing this species in 

 Dauria, and whose detailed account is translated a little 

 further on, says that "the eggs go up to four," although it 

 will be observed that he never mentions finding more than 

 three ; and in the frontispiece to the ' Reisen im Suden von 

 Ost-Sibirien,' Band ii., he figures a pair of birds by the 

 side of a nest containing four eggs. There may be some 

 mistake in this, or it may point to another paradoxical 

 character in this species, indicating a closer affinity to the 

 Plovers than is shewn by the other members of the order ; 

 but, at all events, such a distinct assertion must not be 

 passed over in silence. 



The eggs are elliptical, stone-buff in colour, with darker 

 blotches of purple-brown, and average 1*5 in length by 1*1 

 in breadth.* 



The following is a translation of the full account given by 

 Herr G. Radde in his above-cited work, pp. 292-294 : 



" The basin of the Tarei-nor, in Dauria, is situated in about 

 50 N. lat. and 116 E. long. The nest is very simple, re- 

 sembling those of the other Sand-grouse, and several pairs, 

 but never many, usually breed in company. In the salt- 

 impregnated soil on the Tarei-nor, usually on the ground 

 which has been dry for years, a shallow hollow about five 

 inches in diameter is scratched out, and the edge is lined 

 with a few salsola shoots and grasses ; but the latter are fre- 

 quently absent. Eggs go up to four (i.e., do not exceed four). 

 Syrrhaptes does not winter regularly on the north-eastern 

 edge of the elevated Gobi, in the low spurs of the northern 

 portion of the Himalaya range. On the 10th (22nd) March, 



* An egg laid in the Zoological Gardens on 21st June, 1861, by one of several 

 birds sent from China, was described and figured by Professor Newton, P. Z. S. 

 1861, p. 397, pi. 39, fig. 1. 



