160 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY . 
?. Shot in desert ground between Sulaghiz Langar and Sanju, 
10th August.—Length, 11:4; expanse, 17°35 ; wing, 5°5 ; tail, 
4°3; tarsus, 1°6; bill, from gape, 1:7; closed wings fall short 
of tail, 2.3; weight, 4°2 oz. Bill, black, greyish at base; irides, 
brown; legs, feet, and claws, black; soles of feet, grey. The 
ova very minute. 
Four males—three shot in desert between Sanju and Langar, 
28th September, and one between Langar and Koshtak, 30th 
September :—Length, 11°5 to 12; expanse, 17°8 to 18°7; wing, 
5°6 to 5°85; tail, 4°3 to 4:5; tarsus, 1°65 to 1:7; bill, from gape, 
1°8 to 1:89; weight, 4°4 oz. to 5°2 oz. 
Five females—three shot between Sanju and Langar 29th 
September, one shot between Langar and Koshtak 30th Septem- 
ber, and one between Koshtik and Ui Toghrak 1st October :— 
Length, 10°9 to 11:4; expanse, 17:1 to 17°5; wing, 5:3 to 
56; tail, 3:9 to 42; tarsus, 155 to 1°67; bill, from gape, 
1:6 to 1°69; weight, 3:5 oz. to 4:5 oz. 
Bill, legs, feet, and claws, black ; irides, brown. 
This species was only met within the desert country which 
intervenes between Sanju and Karghalik—an arm of the great 
Takla Makan Desert—which we crossed on entering and leaving 
the plains of Hastern Turkestan. It was never seen or heard 
of near Kashghar, Yarkand, or the country which lies between 
those two cities. Altogether I saw about thirty-five of these 
birds, out of which I shot and preserved fourteen. As I was 
aware that little was known about the habits of these Podoces 
I made all the notes I could at the time about them and may 
perhaps be excused for giving a rather detailed account of what 
I observed about this species. 
Podoces Hendersoni inhabits desert sandy ground, in which 
very stunted little bushes grow sparsely, and which is intersected 
by a few small streams, usually at a distance of a day’s march 
from each other. The birds move about singly, seldom in pairs ; 
and even when two birds are found together and they are alarmed 
they fly away in different directions; thus showing that their 
bond of union was very slight indeed. The birds are always very 
much on the alert and run as swiftly as hares at the least sign 
of danger. They never take to the wing except when very hard 
pressed, and then they fly only for a short distance, soon settling 
on the ground again to scuttle off as hard as their legs will carry 
them. When pursued they are very fond of running for some 
distance and then hiding closely behind a bush; and I have 
sometimes surprised them peering round the corner of a bush to 
see if the foe had been circumvented. Their flight is short 
and wavering—something like that of a Hoopoe—and as they 
fly the large white patch on their wing shows out very 
