4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXllI. 



the slate grey bars take the place of the black on the scapulars and 

 the dorsal region is variable. 



Measurements. — S^'mg 7-65" ( 184 mm. to 8-30" ) ( 200-6 

 mm.) with an average of 7-99" ( 196-3mm.); tarsus about -97" 

 ( 24-5 mm. ) and bill at front about -49" ( 12-6 ). The tail 

 averages a good deal shorter than the male, the longest I have seen 

 being 6-2" ( 15 7* 2) whilst many are well under 5-" (127mm. ). 



" Females. — Length 13-5 to 15 ; expanse 24 to 25 ; wings 7-5 to 

 8-15; tail from vent 3-75 to 6; tarsus 0-97 to 1-12. Weight 

 8-25 to 11-25 ozs." (Hume.) 



The colours of the soft parts are the same as in the male. 



Immature male. — In males not yet fully adult much of the bar- 

 ring of the upper parts as in the female is still retained, the head is 

 wholly barred, the chin and throat white and the fore neck dull 

 olive buff with large black spots. The black of the throat is ac- 

 quired in patches, and finally the well marked crown, etc. of the 

 adult male, though birds, otherwise fully adult, may be found with 

 a few barred feathers on the upper head. 



Plumage of young female. — Chin and throat white ; whole upper 

 surface barred buff and blackish; duller on the dorsal parts, brighter 

 on rump and tail; wings with the white on the coverts replaced with 

 grey, the slate grey bands replaced by black, and the whole tone 

 duller and greyer. The sides of the head, neck and breast are dull 

 earthy buff with bars of black, these bars are rather denser on the 

 base of the throat and above the white of the abdomen, giving 

 slight indications of the bands on these parts ; the under tail coverts 

 are white with a few brown bars and the rest of the under parts 

 white as in the adult, but with obsolete brown bars here and there, 

 especially in the centre of the abdomen. 



First ijlumage of hoth onale and female. — Whole upper parts, head, 

 neck and breast dull buff, barred with blackish and brownish black 

 above and dull brown below. Chin and throat white as in the older 

 female. The bars on the head and lower parts are narrower and 

 more numerous than in the older bird and are more crescentic in 

 shape. The quills are paler and the inner primaries freckled with 

 rufous towards the tip. The wing of the bird of this description 

 measures 7-02". 



The nestling of this extremely common and widespread species 

 does not, curiously enough, appear to have been yet described. 



Mr. Meade Waldo was the first to discover that the male of this 

 Sand-Grouse assumes a post nuptial plumage after the young are 

 hatched, much in the same manner as many ducks do. He says 

 " Roughly there is the first nestling plumage which is assumed from 

 the down. This is moulted in the autumn into the winter plu- 

 mage. In the very early spring this again is changed into the 

 breeding plumage, and the cock in late siimmer puts on an eclipse 



