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Transcaspia. It is very rare in the sand-plain between the Murghab and the Tedgend, where he 

 only once met with it, in May, near the Dorte-Koyou wells. It is said to be not uncommon in 

 the sand-hills of the desert separating the Merv oasis from the Amu-Darja. 



The Turcomans, who call this bird Tchour-Tchour, assert that it is often met with in winter 

 in the sands of the Kara-Koum, near the Ahal oasis, but that it is very rare in the summer. 



Eversmann, in his 'Natural History of the Orenburg District' (in Russian), says that this 

 bird "inhabits the southern steppes east of Lake Aral, and is found in sandy places covered with 

 saxaul bushes (Anabasis ammodendron). It runs about amongst these bushes, and when followed 

 hides and flies from one bush to another. It probably feeds on the seeds of this and other 

 plants, and also on insects, especially beetles, which swarm on the sand in the spring. It leaves 

 for the winter, but returns in April." 



Professor Bogdanoff met with it throughout the Kizil-Kum desert as far as the banks of the 

 Amu-Darja, and between Dshany-Darja and Syr-Darja, but he adds that during three journeys 

 made through the Kara-Kum desert he never saw one, and does not believe that it occurs there. 

 He says that it " inhabits the barren sand desert, but seldom visiting the clay portions, and is 

 never found far from the sand. I never once saw one on stony ground or on the desert mounds, 

 nor near rivers, lakes, or the sea, and one can say with certainty that it requires no water and 

 never drinks. In the desert it affects places which are sparsely covered with bushes placed far 

 apart. In the saxaul thickets and tamarisks, which form regular forests along the dry river-bed 



of the Dshany-Darja, this bird is never met with Most of the year this bird lives 



singly, and may be found running all day about the sand near the bushes seeking food. It runs 

 like the gallinaceous birds, and I never saw it hop or jump like a Magpie ; but it runs very 

 swiftly, and can seldom be forced to take wing. Its flight reminds one of that of Pica, Garrulus 

 and Lanius. After having flown a short distance, it alights and seeks safety by running. It 

 seldom perches on a saxaul branch, and only when it wants to examine a suspicious-looking 



place In the spring and summer I found only larvae of insects, probably of different 



sorts of Blaps, which abound in the desert, in the stomachs of these birds, and in less quantity 

 also full-grown insects. In the autumn, as early as August, this food disappears entirely, and 

 they are dependent on the seed of the saxaul, various Colli gonum and other desert plants, and 

 probably feed on these throughout the winter. Late in the autumn this bird follows the Kirghiz 

 flocks, and seeks its food amongst the droppings of domestic animals. For this purpose it 

 frequents the caravan-routes and the dwellings of the nomadic Kirghis, where it may be seen 

 running about quite close to the kibitkas, not showing any fear of man, seeking food amongst 

 the refuse. It is found in the Kizil-Kum desert throughout the year, and Mr. Eversmann's 

 statement that it goes south in the winter is quite incorrect. I have but seldom heard its call- 

 note, which is loud and harsh, reminding one of the cry of a Woodpecker. It moults from 

 August to the middle of September." 



Zarudny says that he found this species "somewhat rare in the Buchara district, in the sandy 

 desert strips bordering the cultivated land on the southern banks of the Amu-Darja, between 

 Tschardjui and the locality ' Maidan,' near Kerki. I was told that here and there in the sand- 

 desert, along the roads leading out of the Amu-Darja valley to Andhoi, it is common, as also in 

 the country of the Afghan-Turcomans. Throughout all Transcaspia I know of no place where this 



