256 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE PTEROCLID.E. [Feb. 19, 



CEnas bicincta, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. vol. x"ii. (1817) p. 

 421 ; id. Gal. Ois. vol. ii. (1834) p. 60 (text). 



Double-banded Grouse, Lath. Gen. Hist. B. vol. viii. (1823) p. 



259. 



Pterocles bici?ictus,Wag\. Syst. Av. (1827) Pterocles, sp. 2 ; Less. 

 Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 516, sp. 2; Reich. Syn. Av. Gallinse 



(1851) pi. ccviii. figs. 1819-20 ; Strickl. and Sclat. Contr. Ornith. 



(1852) p. 157 ; Layard, Birds S. Afr. (1867) p. 278 ; Ayres, Ibis 

 (1869) p. 298 ; Gum. Anderss. Birds Dam. L. (18/2) p. 241; 

 Buckley, Ibis (1874) p. 385; Bocage, Journ. fur Ornith. (1876) 

 p. 303. 



Hab. Transvaal, near the Limpopo {Ayres) ; Limpopo, to the 

 Matabili country {Buckley) ; Damara and Great Namaqua Lands 

 (Andersson). 



This is the most common of the Sand-Grouse found near the 

 Limpopo, according to Mr. Ayres, with perhaps the exception of P. 

 gutturalis. The greater number in June were in flocks, although 

 some few had paired and were breeding. The eggs are laid on the 

 bare ground, and are brownish pink, spotted and blotched all over, 

 particularly at the thick end, with a lighter tint of the same colour. 

 Size 1-A; by -L| inch. This species was also found to be very abun- 

 dant from the Limpopo to the Matabili country by Mr. Buckley ; 

 and in the evening they come down in immense flocks to the water- 

 holes to drink. During the day he met with them chiefly in pairs, 

 or three individuals together ; and when they rose from the ground 

 they uttered a creaking note. According to Andersson, this species 

 is very abundant in Damara and Great Namaqua Lands, and can 

 always be met with during the dry season at any of the permanent 

 watering-places to which they resort at morning and evening. When 

 dispersed they usually go in pairs, and feed chiefly on the seeds of 

 grasses and berries, mingling with their food considerable quantities 

 of coarse sand. 



Their flesh, though very white, is excessively tough, and it is best 

 to skin the bird before cooking. The iris is deep red, the skin round 

 the eye chrome-yellow. 



The figure given by Sonnerat in his ' Voyage aux Indes Orien- 

 tals et a la Chine ' is evidently referable to this species ; from having 

 only two bands upon the breast, a white one succeeded by a black one, 

 it cannot possibly represent P. fasciatus, Scop., to which it has 

 been referred by some authors. In his text Sonnerat only mentions 

 one band, the while one, which does not describe any species of 

 Sand Grouse at present known. The locality, " cote de Coromandel," 

 however, is not one of the habitats of the present species, so far as I 

 am aware, as it is apparently solely found in Africa. 



The specimens described by Temmiuck were given to him by Le 

 Vaillant, who procured them in Namaqualand. 



Male. Black bar across the forehead, in front of which and over 

 each eye is a white spot, these latter sometimes coalescing and form- 

 ing a white bar behind the black one. Top of head and occiput 

 rufous, streaked with black. Throat, sides of neck, upper part of 



