THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 655 



" Iris brown, orbit lemon yellow, bill orange-brown, feet orange 

 yellow. " (Blanford.) " Feet chrome yellow." (Sharpe.) 



Adult female. — The female has the whole head and neck pale 

 earthy buff spotted with black, these spots becoming streaks on 

 the upper part, very fine lines on the lores and ear coverts and 

 fairly isolated spots below. The whole of the upper parts and 

 wing coverts are finely barred pale earthy buff and black, the 

 median and greater coverts tipped narrowly with pale yellowish and 

 the outer webs of the outer coverts with narrower black bars and 

 more, proportionate, pale buff, generally of a lighter, purer tint than 

 that of the back. Greater coverts and primaries like those of the 

 male ; under wing coverts grey, obsoletelj^ barred darker ; whole 

 lower surface and flanks barred black and white, the latter purest on 

 the abdomen and buff on the breast ; on the under tail coverts the 

 bars are broader and the tips are yellowish ; feathers of tarsi pale 

 buff. 



The female varies to the same extent as the male in general tint ; 

 the bird shewn in the plate representing an average bird whilst 

 some may range a good deal paler and sandier and others richer 

 with more of a rufous tint. 



The wing of the female measures between 6-55" ( 166- 3 mm.) 

 and 7-10" ( 180-3 mm.) with an average of 6-85" ( 170- 5 mm. ) ; 

 the tarsus between -86" (21-8mm.^ and 1-0" (25-4mm.) with 

 an average of -93" ( 23-6 mm. ); the bill between -50" ( 12-7 mm.) 

 and -55" ( 13-9 mm.) with an average of -52" (13-2 mm.); tail about 

 -3" (76-2 mm. ) or rather less. 



It is on an average, therefore, a decidedly smaller bird than the 

 male but, judging from the small series I have been able to examine, 

 the bill is longer though more slender. Hume's measurements refer 

 to one pair of birds only, but he gives the weight of both male and 

 female as 8 ozs. 



Distribution. — The home of this little Sand-Grouse is Abyssinia, 

 Nubia, Egypt in the extreme South and South Arabia. Thence it 

 •extends East through South Persia, Baluchistan and South Afgha- 

 nistan into Sind. To the South it ranges into Somali land and to 

 the West and North-West into the Soudan and the Sahara. The 

 most Northern record in Persia I can find is that of a bird from 

 the Tigris, N. of the Persian Gulf and it seems also not to work 

 much North of Mecca or Jeddah in Western Arabia, thoug-h it 

 thence works North and East round the Persian Gulf. 



Within Indian limits the Close-barred Sand-Grouse has only 

 been obtained in Sind, West of the Indus, from Gul Mahomed, 

 Mehar, Upper Sind, where Hume first came across it, to Karachee 

 in the ex'treme South. 



They are, of course, only winter visitors occurring some years in 

 fair mimbers whilst in others very few, if any, visit India at 



