E^Si''; Contributions to the Ornliliology of India, Sfc. 



dry uplands and cultivation and desert inosculate. In the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood ot" the hills themselves^, we never saw 

 them^ except in parties coming- up for a few minutes to drink at 

 some perennial stream^ close to where it debouches from the 

 hills^ and ag-ain we equally missed theili well down into the 

 heart of the cultivated area. Denizens of the desert as their 

 plumage shows them to be at the first glance^ they never ad- 

 vance far into the cultivation, to the immediate neighbourhood 

 of which they are attracted by the facilities for obtaining food. 



There is really nothing to be said about their habits ; they 

 keep together in parties of from five to fifty ; very often each 

 flock, at any rate in winter, consists of one sex only; occasionally 

 we found both sexes intermingled ; they trot about on the dry 

 soil, picking up seeds and insects, or squat motionless sunning 

 themselves in the early morning sun ; they fly ofi" to drink, morn- 

 ing and evening, often to comparatively very distant localities, 

 and in fact comport themselves in most respects much as all the 

 other rock grouse with which I am acquainted do. It was 

 perhaps due to the season being yet young, but it did strike me 

 that though I often watched them from distances of from 80 to 

 100 yards with my binoculars, I never saw that perpetual skir- 

 mishing going on amongst the males which I have so often 

 noticed amongst those of arenarius (but no doubt later in the 

 year) in the Punjab. 



Of the six species of sand grouse as yet known to visit Sindh, 

 four I think we may safel}'' assert, do not breed within the pro- 

 vince ; one exusttts certainly does, and the sixth, the present 

 species, senegallus, probably does. It will be for local observers 

 to settle this point. 



The bird being new to me I measured the first dozen specimens 



1 obtained in the flesh, and the following are the dimensions : 



Males, length, 13-4 to 14-7 ; expanse, 23 to 23'7 ; tail from 



. vent, 5*3 to 6 ; wing, 7*5 to 7*9 ; the wings, when closed, reach 



to within from 3-3 to 2"8 of the end of the longest tail feathers, 



viz., the central ones which exceed the others by from 1"75 to 



2 ; bill at front, 0-44 to 0-47 ; tarsus, 1 to 1-05. 



Females, length, 12-4 to 13-1 ; expanse, 22 to 22-6 ; tail from 

 vent, 4 to 4*6 ; the central tail feathers only extending from 

 0*75 to 1*2 beyond the rest ; wing, 7*3 to 7*5 ; bill at front, 0*4 

 to 0*44. 



Irides, brown ; bare orbital skin, yellowish ; bill, pale plum- 

 beous, bluish grey, or bluish white, always somewhat more 

 dusky towards the tip ; feet, pale plumbeous, or bluish white, 

 paler towards the tips of the toes and whitish on scales ; weight, 

 8 to 12 0ZS-, but averaging about 10 ozs. 



