6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



The wing of this young bird measures 6'5. 



" The immakire male differs from the adult in having the tips of 

 the primaries and primary coverts edged v^^ith buff vermiculated 

 with black, some of the feathers of the top of the head with a 

 black sub-terminal band and rufous buff margin, and several fea- 

 thers of the upper back and scapulars yellowish buff barred with 

 black as in the female. " (Ogilvie Grant.) 



Bistrihution. — Pterocles arenarius is found as far West as the 

 Canaries and throughout Northern Africa and to the Sahara from 

 the extreme N. West. It occurs also in the European cotmtries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean, being common in Portugal and 

 Spain and rare elsewhere, but is again more often met with in 

 South East Russia. In Asia it occ^irs in Asia Minor, Caucasus, 

 Palestine, Persia, Baluchistan, Afghanistan and thence into North- 

 West India. 



Within Indian limits it is very common in the Punjab, 

 Bikaner, North-West Eajputana, Sind and the Runn of Cutch. 

 It is also fairly numerous in Northern Guzerat and the North- 

 West of Central India, and it occurs 'as far South as Kathiwar, 

 where Col. L. L. Fenton informs me that " this bird is only an 

 occasional visitor, in some years not a single bird is to be seen, 

 in others a few only, whilst at rare intervals, they come in large 

 flights. " In the South of Central India it is much less common, 

 but has been killed as far South as Bhopal. 



There is also an accoimt in the "Indian Field" of the 21st 

 February 1907 by "Big Bore " of the shooting of three of these 

 grouse in Mysore. This is, of course, far out of the ordinary 

 range, but " Big Bore " is the nom-de-plume of a well-known 

 sportsman who has for a great many years been a keen field natu- 

 ralist and collector and it is impossible that he should have made 

 a mistake over so well marked a bird. He writes, " On the 24th 

 November last, my two sons were out shooting at a place called 

 Giribet, nine miles east of Mysore (City) on the Mysore-Kollegal 

 Road. The}^ were luckj^ in getting a fairly large • bag of duck, 

 snipe, partridges and grouse : amongst the latter I noticed three 

 birds that were strangers to me and being interested in ornitho- 

 logy, I worked out the birds and found they were the " Large or 

 Black-bellied Sand Grouse *' [Pterocles Arenarius). This bird 

 is only a cold weather migrant to North- Western India, and 

 as far as I can make out has never before this been recorded in 

 South India. During the whole time I collected birds for the late 

 Mr. Allen Hume and for myself, I never came across a single 

 specimen of it. It would be interesting to know if any other 

 sportsman has shot this bird in South India. " (Big Bore.) 



To the East the Imperial Sand-Grouse straggles as far as Nepal 

 from which State there is a female skin in the British Museum, 



