62 



entire outer web brownish grey, the inner primaries slightly tipped with white ; secondaries marked on 

 the outer web with orange-yellow, some of the inner ones closely approaching the scapulars in colora- 

 tion ; larger wing-coverts almost entirely orange-yellow ; tail brownish ash, barred chiefly towards the 

 base with indistinct blackish brown bars, and broadly tipped with white ; chin and upper part of the 

 throat rusty red, much paler on the chin, and on the sides of the neck becoming rusty orange, below 

 this a large black mark; lower neck and breast pearl-grey, with an isabelline tinge; across the breast 

 a clearly defined black stripe is carried to the base of the wings ; abdomen black, slightly marked with 

 creamy grey towards the breast ; feathers on the lower tibia tipped with pale sandy buff, and feathers 

 in front of the tarsus pale buff; under tail-coverts pale yellowish white; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries pure white; bill dull horn-brown; feet dull lead-grey; iris brown. Total length about 

 14| inches, culmen 0-65, gape 07, wing 9'2, tail 4-1, tarsus 13. 

 A male in Canon Tristram's collection, killed in November, resembles the male above described; but the 

 markings on the upper surface of the body are more blurred, and the upper parts generally are more 

 rufous. 



Adult Female. Upper parts pale sandy ochre, closely barred with black, except on the head, nape, and hind 

 neck, where the black markings on the feathers are confined to the centres, and give those parts a 

 striped appearance ; primary quills dark greyish brown, the outer secondaries similarly coloured on 

 the terminal portion, but at the base pale isabelline, marbled with blackish, inner secondaries and 

 wing-coverts like the back, except that the larger coverts are broadly tipped with dull clay-orange ; 

 tail as in the male, but more distinctly marked ; sides of the head clay-yellow, striped with black ; 

 upper throat clay-yellow on the lower part, crossed with a tolerably broad blackish stripe ; lower throat 

 and breast rufescent-ochre, marked with drop-shaped spots of black, and on the lower part crossed by a 

 black band, below which there is a narrow space unspotted, the rest of the underparts being black, 

 except the feathers on the lower tibia and tarsus, which are pale clay-yellow ; under tail-coverts dirty 

 white ; under wing-coverts white. 



Young Male (near Seville, 4th October). Head, neck, breast, and entire upper parts dull sandy yellow or 

 pale ochre, barred and marked with black ; feathers on the wing-coverts and breast with a subapical 

 black bar following the contour of the feather ; quills dull greyish black, broadly tipped with dull clay, 

 slightly marbled with blackish brown, secondaries dull yellowish white, except at the base, where they 

 are white, and broadly terminated with dull greyish black, slightly marbled with dull fulvous ; elongated 

 inner secondaries marked like the dorsal feathers, but slightly washed with fulvous ; tail dull elay-yellow, 

 washed with fulvous, and barred with black ; abdomen black. This specimen is very young, as is shown 

 by the short wings and the remains of down amongst the feathers on the breast, lower back, and on the 

 under surface of the wings. 



The Black-bellied Sand-Grouse inhabits South-western Europe (being found only in other parts of 

 Southern Europe as a straggler), Northern Africa, and Western Asia. It has once occurred in 

 Germany ; and Naumann (Vog. Deutschl. vi. p. 265) says that a pair were seen, one of which 

 was killed, in 1801 at Ziebigk, between Cothen and Dessau, in Anhalt. It does not, however, 

 appear to have occurred in France, though it is found in Spain and Portugal. The Eev. A. C. 

 Smith speaks of it (Ibis, 1868, p. 450) as being common in open districts in Portugal ; and 

 Dr. E. Key says that he believes he saw it at Algarve, and received its eggs from there. In 

 Spain, according to Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1871, p. 223), "it is found on the coast in 

 winter, but during the rest of the year prefers higher and more arid localities than Pterocles 



