164 St. (J III nil II : Suiiic Avicultiiral Notes. 



near Arenariiis, and which with me is quite hardy in a dr\^ 

 aviary. Sandgrouse should be kept on a dry, sandy floor, with 

 plenty of sharp grit, lime in the shape of old mortar, and some 

 rocksalt. Several species are great eaters of grass, lettuce, and 

 such common weeds as Shepherd's Purse ; but Bkiiictus and 

 Exiistus with me will look at nothing but small seeds. 



And perhaps here I may suggest to the a\-iculturist the more 

 free use of maw seed, which, of course, is the seed of the various 

 poppies. The drug opium is, I believe, obtained by crushing 

 the seed-capsule, and the seed itself appears to have no injurious 

 qualities. All Sandgrouse, and Quails, are extremely fond of it, 

 and my Bearded Tits mainly live upon it. 



The Sandgrouse are usually placed near the pigeons, but 

 they frequently lay three eggs, and the young feed themselves, 

 and wander from the nest-scratch almost immediately. The 

 young can be reared upon maw seed, grass and clover seed, and 

 the ripening seeds of chickweed, and shepherd's purse. 



There is a very peculiar habit of at least some of the Sand- 

 grouse, viz., the manner in which the young while unfledged 

 receive water from the male parent. My friend, Mr. Meade 

 Waldo, was the hrst to record this interesting habit, having 

 bred Ptcrocles alchatus in his aviaries in Hampshire, and sent an 

 account to the ' Avicultural Magazine.' 



Mr. \\'aldo described how the cock bird (only) when it is 

 aware that the young are thirsty, becomes very restless, and 

 runs up and down the a\-iar3', till presently it steps into the 

 water pan, crouches down with breast plumage distended, 

 and might be thought to be going to hav'e a good wash. But it 

 is not so, for when the soft feathers are well soaked, it leaves 

 the water, and runs towards the young, uttering a cry which 

 is quite unlike any of its usual notes. The nestlings understand, 

 and hurry up, and bury their heads in the soaked plumage, 

 and can be seen taking the wet feathers betw^een their bills 

 and evidently accepting this rather scant\' supply with the 

 same quivering of the wings that one sees in a young pigeon 

 when being fed by the parent. 



It is, of course, true that the Sandgrouse breed in very arid 

 districts, with no opportunities of finding water, except in the 

 form of dew, which must soon disperse when the sun is up. 

 At the same time, the food of the chick, if we may argue 

 from what we see in our aviaries, is not any form of insect life, 

 or of .succulent vegetation, but dry seeds mainly : and therefore 



Natirfalist, 



