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



vermiculated with black, the upp^r breast spotted with blackish 

 brown, the centre pair of tail feathers not produced with 

 filaments." (Ogilvie-Grant.) 



A young bird vnth 'points of fluff still about it, has the whole of the 

 upper parts a pale dull buff and is finely vermiculated all over with 

 tiny wavy bars of black, many of the feathers having the ends edged 

 with white and with a chestnut patch at the tip. From chin to 

 breast the colour is an earthy buff with fine bars of blackish and 

 the abdomen and flanks are dull black. The quills are blackish 

 brown, the trips freckled with buff and black, and the inner secon- 

 daries freckled thus all over; the greater and median primary 

 coverts are also black, the former very narrowlj^, the latter broadly 

 edged with dark buff. 



Another specimen older than the last and with all the nestling 

 fluff worn off is the same, but has a wide band below the breast and 

 above the black abdomen almost devoid of spots and the breast 

 instead of being vermiculated with narrow black bars has definite 

 black spots ; the inner secondaries are also more clearly and regul- 

 arly barred with dull buff and deep brown, though the tips retain 

 the same chestnut and black freckling. The tail is throughoiit 

 banded earthy buff and black. 



Nestling in doivn. — This is yet another of our common Indian 

 Game Birds, the nestling of which still remains to be described. 



Bistrihution. — Pteroclurus exustus extends throughout North West 

 Africa and South-East Asia into India. In Africa it is common, 

 in South Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and extends into Somali, North 

 Egypt and West as far as Algeria and South into British 

 and German East Africa. East it works through Arabia from 

 the extreme South to the extreme North through Palestine and 

 Arabia Petroid, South Persia into India. 



Within India it occurs practically over the whole continent in 

 suitable places and Hume thus defines its habitat. "Throughout 

 India proper, where the rainfall is moderate, the soil fairly dry 

 and the country open and tolerably level, the Common Sand-Grouse 

 abounds. Towards the East and South its general distribution 

 is much that of the Painted Sand Grouse, though the particular 

 localities it affects are different ; but it is a Western form which 

 extends into India and not a purely Indian form, and it is common 

 in places (for instance in Sind) to which P. fasciatus does not 

 extend. 



" It is a bird of the level, sparsely wooded, sandy countries par 

 excellence, and though it may be shot in sundry plains close to hills 

 in Rajputana, unlike the Painted Sand-Grouse, it eschews Hills, 

 has no liking for scrub, and absolutely avoids damp, swampy, low- 

 lying tracts, jungles and forests. 



" Bearing this in mind,, it maybe said that it occurs in all suitable 



