18 i PTEROCLETES 



peculiar short, melancholy coo.- Shelley found two nests of this 

 bird on April 11th, in the bush near Durban; they were placed 

 about four feet from the ground in low creepers close to the path 

 and contained two eggs each. The nest was a flimsy structure of 

 sticks. 



Eggs in the South African Museum, taken near Durban by Mr. 

 Millar in November, are oval in shape, white, with a slight tinge of 

 brown, and measure about I'O x "75. 



Older XI. PTEROCLETES. 



The Sandgrouse, for which this special Order was formed by 

 Huxley, are moderately sized birds, usually of a speckly yellowish 

 colour, and of swift flight ; they are confined to the Old World 

 where they are found principally in desert or semi-desert districts. 



The bill is small and without a cere ; the feet are feathered to 

 the base of the toes, and the hallux is small, or in some cases 

 absent ; the rectrices vary in number from fourteen to eighteen ; 

 the young are hatched, covered with down and able to care for 

 themselves. 



This group was formerly associated with the Game-birds, but 

 shows in a good many of its anatomical characters a close relation- 

 ship to the Pigeons ; this is especially the case as regards certain 

 osteological characters. Beddard ,also traces a connection with 

 the Limicolae or waders. 



The following are the principal anatomical characters : Skull 

 schizognathous and holorhinal ; basipterygoid processes present ; 

 aftershaft small ; oil-gland nude ; crop present ; two carotids ; 

 C£eca long ; the two deep plantar tendons fuse and then divide to 

 supply the anterior toes, the hallux having an independent tendon 

 altogether, the flexor hallucis brevis ; all the five Garrodian thigh 

 muscles present. 



All the Sandgrouse fall into a single family, divisible into three 

 genera, two of which are represented in South Africa. 



Key of the Genera. 



A. Tail-feathers rounded Pterocles,-^. 183. 



B, Central tail-feathers elongated, attenuated and 



pointed, extending beyond the others Pteroclurus, p. 191. 



