315 



■ I do not find it recorded from Transcaspia, but it is found in Afghanistan and Persia. 

 Mr. Blanford obtained it between Shiraz and Isfahan, on the Pei-sian plateau, and remarks 

 (E. Pers. ii. p. 272) that it appeared to be more common in Baluchistan than P. senegallus, and 

 has been met with in Sind, but rarely, whilst P. senegallus is common there. Sir O. St. John 

 states (Ibis, 1889, p. 174) that "this is the only small Sand-Grouse of Southern Afghanistan, and 

 is very generally diffused, though nowhere numerous. It is commonly seen in small parties of 

 half a dozen or so, and is more active on the ground than other Sand-Grouse, running about and 

 picking up seeds like a Partridge, whereas P. alchata and P. arenarius are leisurely and staid in 

 their gait. It breeds in the Helmund desert, for I found it common between Kandahar and the 

 river in July." Dr. Aitchison (Afgh. Delimit. Comm. p. 85) obtained it at Sang-bar, but remarks 

 that he did not remember seeing it after leaving the Baluchistan Desert. It is, according to 

 Mr. Hume (Stray Feathers, i. p. 224), not uncommon in the extreme north-west of Sind, about 

 Jacobabad ; and Mr. Wise records it from Kurrachee. 



According to Von Heuglin the present species closely resembles P. senegallus in general 

 habits and note ; but Sir William Merewether says (Str. Feath. ix. p. 200) that " the flight and 

 cry are both quite different from those of all other species. They have a curious fluttering 

 flight, and appear often to hover in the air, especially before settling, and their cry is a 

 twittering one." 



The eggs of the present species are two or three in number, and are deposited on the 

 ground. Canon Tristram describes the egg as ashy white with a few almost obliterated pale 

 brown markings, and, according to Mr. A. O. Hume (Nests & Eggs of Ind. B. 2nd ed. iii. p. 366), 

 Lieut. Barnes found a nest containing three eggs near Chaman, Afghanistan, which were so hard 

 set as to be unfit for specimens. They measure 1-5 by 1*06 inch. 



Von Heuglin says that the breeding-season is in the months of June and July. The newly 

 hatched young, which are sandy yellow, marked with olive-brown, black and white, soon run 

 about with ease, and are adepts at hiding against a stone or in any slight depression in the 

 ground, and it is most difficult to find them. 



I have been doubtful as to the propriety of including the Singed Sand-Grouse (Pterocles 

 exustus, Temra.), and have, after due consideration, decided to omit it, though it occurs 

 abundantly in Nubia and parts of Egypt, and straggles even as far as the Nile Delta, but has 

 not been recorded as having occurred in any other part of the area of which I am treating. 



This species has the middle tail-feathers elongated like P. senegallus, but is readily distin- 

 guishable from that species in having a black and white pectoral zone, besides which it is 

 smaller, has the primaries almost entirely black, and the abdomen dark chocolate-brown, almost 

 black in the centre 



The pair of Pterocles coronatus figured and above described were kindly lent to me for 

 that purpose by Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined, besides the series in the British 

 Museum, the following specimens : — 



