PTEROCLURUS NAMAQUA. 



NAMAQUA SANDGROUSE. 



(Plate 42.) 



Tetrao namaqua, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, p. 754 (1788). 



Pterocles namaqua, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., pp. 574, 854 

 (1875-84) ; Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 109 

 (1892). 



Pteroclurus namaqtui, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxn, 

 p. 10 (1893) ; Solater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., iii, p. 354 (1905) ; 

 Sclater & Stark, Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 192 (1906). 



Local Names. " Namaqua Patrijs " or " Kelkje Wijn " of the 

 Dutch ; " Namaqua Partridge " of the EngUsh Colonists. 



Description. The birds figured are an adult male and female. 

 Length about 11 in. 



Distribution. This bird is found in country which suits it, from the 

 Karroo and Namaqualand to the Cunene River, but is not met 

 •with in Natal, the eastern Transvaal, or Mashonaland. 



The Namaqua Sandgrouse is an inhabitant of dry and sandy 

 countries. I have seldom seen it on rocky ground, except 

 once when a pair bred on Naval Hill, Bloemfontein, a few 

 hundred yards from my door. Naval Hill is a flat-topped 

 kopje some 300 ft. above the town of Bloemfontein, and 

 with the exception of this pair I never saw a Sandgrouse 

 on it. 



Namaquas are winter migrants to the Orange River Colony, 

 and it is but rarely that they breed there. 



Some years they come in the winter in huge flocks, and in 

 other years are very scarce indeed or entirely absent. 



The stronghold of the Namaqua is the Kalahari region, 



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