PTEROCLES 655 



and feeds on seeds, and to some extent also on insects. Except 

 during the breeding season it is found in flocks, and its call-note, 

 Jcaat, kaat, ka, may be heard at a great distance and is generally 

 uttered when the bird is on the wing. The nest is a mere 

 depression in the ground, and the eggs, 2 to 3 in number, are 

 usually deposited in May, and are elongated oval in shape, clay 

 coloured tinged with warm rufous isabelline, with purplish grey 

 underlying shell markings and dark reddish brown surface spots 

 and blotches, and measure about 1'83 by T22. 



The eastern form has been subspecifically separated from the 

 western form ( P. pyrenaicus) as being somewhat less brightly 

 coloured and having the submarginal bars on the chestnut wing- 

 coverts white and not yellowish or buff, but I do not find these 

 characters permanent in a series and consequently do not 

 separate the forms. 



907. SENEGAL SAND-GROUSE. 

 PTEROCLES SENEGALLUS. 



Pterocles senegallus (Linn.), Mantissa, p. 526 (1771); Gould, B. of A. 

 pi. 62 ; (Ogilvie Grant), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxii, p. 14 ; Dresser, ix. 

 p. 309, pi. 699 ; (Blanf.), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 61 ; P. guttatus 

 (Licht.), Verz. Doubl. p. 64 (1823). 



Fuku, Somdi. ; Kittamah, Berber. ; Quata, Arab. ; Nandu- 

 Katingo, Gutu, Sind. 



( ad. (Sind). Crown, back, rump, lesser wing-coverts and upper tail- 

 coverts dark isabelline, the last tinged with yellow ; sides of crown to 

 below the eye, nape, and hind neck blue-grey ; primaries greyish or 

 brownish isabelline ; secondaries brown margined with isabelline ; 

 larger coverts greyish at base, then warm brown tipped with isabelline ; 

 elongated middle tail-feathers yellowish isabelline on basal, dark brown 

 on terminal half, the rest brown at base, then blackish tipped with white 

 sides of head and throat ochreous, the lower throat bluish grey ; rest of 

 under parts isabelline, the middle of the abdomen black ; under tail- coverta 

 creamy white, but black at the base ; bill bluish grey ; feet bluish white ; 

 iris brown, orbits yellowish. Culmen 0'65, wing 8'0, tail 5'75, tarsus 1*1 

 inch. The female has the crown, nape, and upper parts, lower throat, and 

 breast isabelline spotted with black, the sides of the head below the eye,. 

 chin and upper throat ochreous. 



Hob. Algeria, Tunis, Egypt ; Arabia, Palestine, east to Persia 

 and Afghanistan ; India W. of 73 E. long, and north as far as 

 33 N. lat. 



