59 



Family PTEROCLID^l. 



Genus PTEROCLES. 



Lagopus apud Brisson, Orn. i. p. 195 (1760). 

 Tetrao apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 276 (1766). 

 Pterocles, Temminck, Pig. et Gallin. iii. p. 240 (1815). 

 (Enas apud Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. xii. p. 418 (1817). 

 Pteroclurus apud Bonaparte, Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 880 (1856). 



The Sand-Grouse resemble the Pigeons so closely in structure, and especially in the form of the 

 sternum, that they cannot well be separated from them ; and they appear to form, as it were, a 

 link between them and the Gallinae. The genus Pterocles is represented in the Palsearctic, 

 Oriental, and Ethiopian Regions, two species only being found in the Western Palsearctic 

 Region. It is very possible that two African species, Pterocles exustus, Temm., and Pterocles 

 senegallus (L.), may straggle into the southern portion of the Western Palsearctic Region ; but 

 they cannot at present fairly be included in the list. 



The Sand-Grouse, as their name implies, frequent sand plains, steppes, and open, treeless 

 localities, usually dry and arid places ; but they are also found in the stubble-fields in search of 

 their food, which consists of seeds and shoots of plants &c. Their flight is direct, protracted, 

 and very swift ; and their cry is a loud, peculiar croak. They are gregarious, and are frequently 

 seen in large flocks ; and, like the Pigeons, they resort to regular drinking-places, which they 

 usually visit in the morning and evening. They walk with tolerable ease considering their 

 short legs, and will often travel considerable distances. They are monogamous, and nest 

 on the ground, merely scratching a hole in which they deposit their eggs, usually three 

 in number, which are ochreous or buff, marked with brown or rufous, and in shape rather 

 elongated oval. When the young are hatched they are covered with down, but are somewhat 

 helpless for several days, during which time they are fed by the mother, who disgorges food for 

 them after the manner of the Pigeons, after which they are able to run about and search for 

 food for themselves. It is stated by some observers that when the Sand-Grouse incubate they 

 lie on one side, spreading one wing to cover the eggs, a position for which the deep keel of the 

 sternum is admirably adapted. 



Pterocles alchata, the type of the genus, has the bill short, stout, curved gradually down- 

 wards from the nostrils, and ending in an acute point ; nostrils basal, elongated, oval, lateral, 

 partly closed by a membrane, which is partly hidden by the feathers ; wings very long, pointed, 

 the first quill longest ; tail moderate, wedge-shaped, the central rectrices elongated ; legs short, 

 tarsus stout, anteriorly feathered; hind toe rudimentary, anterior toes short, stout, united at 

 the base by a membrane ; claws short, stout, slightly curved, rather obtuse. 



160 



