1878.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE PTEUOCLIDJE. 241 



chest barred with white and black ; abdomen and vent barred with 

 rufous and black. Under tail-coverts ochraceous. Tail blackish 

 brown, barred and largely tipped with yellowish white. Bill and feet 

 blue-black. 



Total length 1 1|- inches ; wing 8g, tail 4 5, bill along gape ■§-. 



A young bird differs from the female in having the breast vinous 

 in the centre, pale buff on the sides, each feather with two narrow 

 brown bars. Abdomen, flanks, and vent chestnut, barred sparingly 

 with black. Wings very pale buff, barred with black, Best of 

 plumage as in the female. 



2. Pterocles gutturalis. 



Pterocles gutturalis, Smith, 111. S.-Afr. Zool. (Birds), pi. 3 <J, 

 pi. 31 $ "(1849); Gray, Gen. B. vol. iii. p. 519 (1849); Reich. 

 Svn. Av. Gallinae (1851) pi. ccx. figs. 1829, 1830; von Heugl. 

 Syst. Uber. Vdg. N.O.-Afr. (1855) p. 304 ; Parker, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. (1862) p. 258; id. Journ. fiir Ornith. (1862) p. 286; Layard, 

 Birds S. Afr. (1867) p. 278; id. Ibis (1868; p. 269; Ayres, Ibis 

 (1869) p. 297; Blanf. Geol. & Zool. Abyss. (1870) p. 421 ; Von 

 Heugl. Ornith. Nordost-Afr. Band ii. (1873) p. 862 ; Buckle, Ibis 

 (1874) p. 385. 



Hab. Kurrichaine, South Africa (Smith) ; Trans- A r aal (Ayres, 

 Buckley) ; Adoa and Aium to Shoa, Abyssinia (Heuylin) ; Agula, 

 Antalo, Abyssinia (Blanford). 



This fine species of Sand-Grouse was first described by Sir A. 

 Smith (I. c), who obtained it about eighty miles to the eastward of 

 Latakoo, his attention having been drawn to the bird by its cry, 

 which was very different from that of P. namaqua, and resembled 

 the syllables tweet-tweet. Like all the other species they resorted 

 to the water in large flocks, but when feeding were dispersed and 

 observed only singly or in pairs. Grass-seeds and abundance of 

 gravel were found in the stomachs of the individuals that were killed. 

 The eggs, which are two or three in number, are laid upon the bare 

 ground ; and the young take to a wandering life almost immediately 

 after they are hatched. 



In Abyssinia Mr. Blanford considers this species to be local, as 

 he only saw it in two or three places in the highlands, at Agula 

 and Antalo ; and Ruppell mentions it only at Shoa, though Von 

 Heuglin procured it near Adowa. 



Mr. Ayres states that in the neighbourhood of Potchefstrom, in 

 the territory of the Transvaal, this species is abundant towards the 

 end of winter and beginning of spring. Their flight is strong, re- 

 sembling that of Pigeons ; and when alarmed, they do not run, but 

 lie close to the ground, from which they take wing at once. Their 

 notes, uttered only on the wing, are harsh, and may be heard at a 

 considerable distance. They feed upon a species of tare or pea, and 

 upon bulbous roots of a species of grass ; from the aromatic pro- 

 perties of these last the birds, after feeding freely upon them, are 

 thoroughly scented. Iris is dusky-brown. The egg is " 1-L| in. 

 by -L| in. ; the ground-colour is dusky-tawny, marked with lines and 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1878, No. XVI. 16 



