ANIMALS— PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 85 



when his feathers are awry gets into his drinking- 

 water and saturates the feathers of his underparts. 

 When soaked he goes through the motion of flying 

 away, nodding his head, etc. ; then, rememberng 

 his family is close by, he would run to the hen, 

 make a demonstration, when the young run out, 

 get under him, and suck the water from his breast 

 — ^the appearance being that of a mammal suckling 

 her young. / The young pass the feathers through 

 their bills, and keep changing places until the supply l^ 

 becomes exhausted. Until the young can fly they 

 take water in no other way, and the cock gives it 

 to the young only.^"" (Meade- Waldo.) As soon as 

 the chicks can fly they cease entirely to drink from 

 the males' breast-feathers./ Sandgrouse in nature 

 breed at various dates, but one may say roughly 

 that they choose the hot weather. The following 

 are dates on which eggs of certain species have been 

 found in various places : 



It seems that many young Sandgrouse are brought 



