42 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



Baluchistan, Kashgar and Persia, extend- 

 ing through Arabia to Africa. 



I can find very little regarding the 

 habits of this Sand-Grouse. The late 

 Sir O. B. St. John remarked of this 

 species : " This is the only small Sand- 

 Grouse of Southern Afghanistan, and is 

 very generally diffused though nowhere 

 numerous. It is commonly seen in small 

 parties of half a dozen or so, and is more 

 active on the ground than other Sand- 

 Grouse, running about and picking up 

 seeds like a Partridge, whereas P. alchata 

 and P. arenarius are leisurely and staid 

 in their gait. It breeds in the Helmund 

 Desert, for I found it common between 

 Kandahar and the river in July." 



Mr. Hume has the following note : 

 " Sir William Merewether tells me that 

 the flight and cry of P. coronatus are 

 both quite different from those of all 

 the other species. They have a curious 

 fluttering flight and appear often to hover 

 in the air, especially before settling, and 

 their cry is a twittering one." 



Lieut.-Col. J. M. Anderson informs us 

 that he shot several Pterocles coronatus 

 in October in the western desert near 

 the hills of Karachi : they were in flocks 

 of from six to twenty and very tame : 



