392 PIGEONS AND SAND-GROUSE. 
Minor to India, while an allied western form (P. pyrenaicus) is met with in North 
Africa and South-Western Europe. Although the two are very similar, the western 
bird has the wide chestnut band across the breast much darker, and the marginal 
lines round the smaller feathers of the wing pale yellow instead of white. In both, 
the under-parts are pure white, and the males have the throat black and the upper- 
parts dull olive blotched with yellow; while in the females the throat is white and 
the upper-parts are barred with black. The eastern form is a cold-weather visitant 
to the north-west of India, where some of the sand-grouse habitually associate in 
such countless numbers, Mr. Hume stating that he has seen flocks of at least ten 
thousand, while similar observations have been made in Mesopotamia and on the 
shores of the Persian Gulf. 
Common A third member of the pin-tailed group is the common sand- 
Sand-Grouse. crouse (P. exustus), which has the general colour of the plumage 
yellowish buff, shading into dark brown on the under-parts in the male, while in 
the female the breast and upper-parts of the back are spotted with brownish black, 
and the rest of the upper surface barred with the same colour. This bird has a 
very wide range, inhabiting the whole of India in localities where the rainfall is 
moderate, the soil fairly dry, and the country open and tolerably level, and extend- 
ing westwards across Asia and Northern Africa to Senegal. 
W. R. OGILVIE GRANT. 

