268 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



Downs that the birds I Lave had the good fortune to meet 

 with were shot. 



I have only bagged two pairs ; the first on the 23rd December 

 1865, and the second in November of the present year, on both 

 which occasions there were several others scattered about the 

 plain. I may add that as I only visit this station at long inter- 

 vals, my not having fallen in with the species more frequently 

 is easily accounted for. — J. C. Parker. 



Sir, 



On the evening of this 29th instant, settled in culti- 

 vated fields and other extensive plains bordering the Nujjeefghur 

 Jheel, some 5 miles north-west of the Gurhi Patrol's post, 

 Goorgaon District, I met with this (to me) new species of 

 Sand Grouse.* There were several flocks, in number exceeding 

 300. Their peculiar Grouse flight, added to their strange 

 note, u kali kah," at once attracted my attention. But so 

 very wild were they, that after an hour of severe stalking I 

 only secured the specimen (male) I send you. My Shikaris, 

 however, next day brought three males and one female. I have 

 for nearly 30 years, at various times in the cold season, shot over 

 the vast plains in the Goorgaon District, annually visited by the 

 laro-e Grouse (Plerocles arenarius), but I never met with the 

 present species before. And I can safely affirm that it has not 

 during this long period been obtained about here by any other 

 sportsman of my acquaintance. Probably, this species is one of 

 the six you mentioned in your Scindh paper (I have no books 

 by me to refer to) ; and if so, the fact is interesting, that from 

 some unknown cause this Grouse has this season extended its 

 migrations so far east. 



Another, as I think noteworthy fact, is, that a gentleman who 

 accompanied me on the same dates and on the same plains 

 shot a couple of the common small Grouse (P. exustus) in the 

 nest plumage. I am certain they were not two months' old, and 

 I state this the more positively, having during my residence at 

 Pnipoor shot scores of young birds in precisely the same nestling 

 plumage. There can be no doubt, then, that the common Sand 

 Grouse (P. exnstus) does, at least occasionally, breed twice a 

 year.f I had kept a specimen to send for your inspection, but 

 unfortunately a house dog destroyed it. — 11. F. Blewitt, 

 Delhi, 31^ December 1874. 



* The specimen sent is P. alehata. We have hitherto known this only as a regular 

 winter visitant to the north of Sindh, Dera Ghazee Khan, Dera Ismail Kban, Hote 

 Murdan, and other places west of the Indus, the neighbourhood of Attock, Peshawar, 

 and Huzara, and the occurrence of this species so far east as the Nujjeefghur Jheel is 

 very remarkable and noteworthy — vide S. F., Vol. I., p. 221. — Ed. 



f See Nests and Eggs, Part III. It breeds pretty well all the year round.— Ed. 



