10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



The first egg of this species taken in India is one now in the 

 British Museum, which was found at Jhimpir in Sind on the 10th 

 July, 1878. After this, nothing else was recorded until Mr, Bogle 

 wrote the following interesting note to the B. N. H. S. Journal, 

 which I quote in extenso, merely noting that it was written from 

 Mardan in the Punjab. "I cannot see, either in Gates, Jerdon, or 

 Hume and Marshall any record of the Eastern Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse, 

 Pterodes alchatus breeding in India, which I think I may claim to 

 have proved breeds in the Peshawar Valley. Two daj^s ago, eggs 

 were brought to me by a man, who declared one was that of the 

 Common and the other that of the Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse. Doubting 

 his word I made arrangements to go out this morning, 10th June 

 1900, with him, and see if I could gather any information myself. 

 I first went to the place where these Sand-Grouse water, where I 

 found, close to a small village called " Kasim " the Common Sand- 

 Grouse flighting in packs and a very few pairs, while to my surprise 

 the Pin-tails all came in pairs (I saw five or six pairs). I shot one 

 pair of the latter and then proceeded to search a few miles further 

 on in a vast open plain for nests. I found only two nests, each contain- 

 ing three eggs of the Common Sand-Grouse. In eacli case I approached 

 so close to the bird in the nest that there was no necessity to shoot 

 it in order to identify it. On my return I dissected the female 

 Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse and found an • e,gg inside quite ready for 

 laying, and I have no doubt that it would have been laid to-day 

 in the same plain I was searching in had the bird lived." 



" I regret to say the egg was broken badly, first pierced by shot 

 and again broken in extraction." 



According to Canon Tristram, writing of this bird's habits in 

 North Africa. " Its breeding habits are exactly like those of P. 

 arenarius, but its egg is of a much richer fawn coloured tint, covered 

 and sometimes zoned, with large maroon red blotches, while that 

 of the other is of a paler hue, with obsolete pale brown blotches." 



Salvin describes these birds as breeding in the Atlas, and says 

 " The extensive sandy plains termed the Harakta, of which EL 

 Korarf is one of the largest, are the only localities in which we met 

 with the Sand-Grouse. It makes no nest but scrapes a slight 

 hollow in the sand, in which it deposits its three eggs. These are 

 laid in May, the young being hatched about the second week in 

 June." 



The eggs of this Sand-Grouse and of the other sub-species Pf. 

 alohata typica differ from all other Sand-Grouse eggs in the richness 

 of their colouration. Normally the ground colour is a rich clear buff, 

 though in a few eggs it is a paler and more cream or bright stone- 

 yellow in colour. The superior markings consist of well defined 

 blotches and spots with a few specks of rich vandyke brown, here 

 and there being one or two with a chocolate or deep maroon tint, 



