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



not leave the neighbourhood when disturbed but return to the water 

 holes or their immediate vicinity till the hour arrives for their 

 departure. As in P. arenarius, their feathers lie very closely together 

 necessitating heavy shot to bring them down. The jflesh of this Sand- 

 Grouse is excellent eating and not at all tasteless, the breast having 

 dark and light meat the same as the Black Game:" 



Later on in the same chapter he adds: " On the ground its walk 

 resembles that of a Pigeon. Its note is very different fi'om that of 

 the two above species (P. arenarius and P. alchata^ and may be very 

 fairly well rendered by the syllable " Ka " or " Kla " repeated 

 several times." 



" In the stomachs of those which I have examined I never found 

 anything but seeds and vegetable matter," 



" I have never been fortunate enough to discover its eggs, but 

 apparently this species is a late breeder, and does not lay until the 

 middle of May." 



" Loche states that he has taken the eggs of this species and that 

 they are of a pale greyish colour, covered with indistinct violet grey 

 and dull rufous markings and measure about 44 x 32 mm., but 

 these measurements seem more applicable to eggs of the larger 

 species of the Sand-Grouse." 



Nidification. — Lieut. E. Barnes found the Coronetted Sand-Grouse 

 breeding in Chaman in Afghanistan. In this place he flushed a 

 pair of the sand-grouse both of which he shot, and at the spot from 

 which he flushed them he found three eggs, unfortunately too hard 

 set to preserve, so we have no description of them beyond the fact 

 that they measured 1-5" by 1-06" (38-1 x 27- mm.) 



There is another egg taken by the same Collector which is now in 

 the British Museum. In colour the specimen is a very pale yellow- 

 ish stone colour, rather than cream as described by Gates ; the 

 superior markings consist of small blotches, spots and specks of pale 

 vandyke-brown, whilst the secondary or underlying spots are of pale 

 lavender grey. Both are fairly equally distributed over the whole 

 surface of the Qgg, perhaps rather more numerous in the central 

 portion where they also seem to average darker in tint. The shape 

 is, of course, the usual elliptical one of all Sand-Grouse, and the 

 texture is smooth and fine with a strong gloss. 



It measures 1-62" x 1*07" (41 x 27-3 mm.) and was taken at 

 Chaman on the 27th May 1908. Elsewhere Barnes records the 

 fact that these Sand-Grouse breed during May and June in Chaman, 

 South of Afghanistan. 



Tristram found it breeding in the South Sahara. He says : " I 

 found it only in small companies of four or five, but this may have 

 been owing to the extreme scarcity of plants in the district where 

 it roams. The e.gg is of an ashy white, with a few almost obliterated 

 pale-brown markings. " 



