69 



throat are intermixed with black, and the lower throat above the red pectoral band is just assuming the 

 adult plumage. 



Nestling {fide Loche) . Covered with reddish down, variegated with brown and rusty red. 



This Sand-Grouse, like its congener Pterocles arenarius, inhabits Southern Europe and North 

 Africa, and ranges eastward into the western portion of India. It is stated by Borggreve (Vogelf. 

 Nord-Deutschl. p. 101) to have once occurred at Hanover; but I have no other record of its 

 having been found so far north in Central Europe. It is said to inhabit the flat portions of the 

 south of France, where it is resident and is found more especially in the arid plains of Crau, in 

 Provence; and Baron von Miiller says (J. f. O. 1856, p. 227) that it is so numerous there that a 

 bird-catcher, who made the catching of Sand-Grouse his speciality, occasionally brought as many 

 as fifty pair or more at once to him. According to Degland and Gerbe (Orn. Eur. ii. p. 24), it 

 straggles to the northern departments, and a young male was killed near la Bassee. In Portugal, 

 according to the Rev. A. C. Smith (Ibis, 1868, p. 451), it is by no means rare, though not so 

 common as Pterocles arenarius; and in Spain it is a common species in suitable localities. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1871, p. 223) says that it is "abundant in Andalucia, where it 

 breeds in May ;" and Lord Lilford also informs me that it is common and resident in Southern 

 Spain, on the plains and in the flat country. 



It has been recorded as having occurred in Italy ; but Salvadori has been unable to 

 satisfy himself as to the authenticity of these recorded occurrences ; and Doderlein denies that 

 it has been obtained in Sicily, at least during his time. It has, however, occurred at Malta ,- 

 and Mr. C. A. Wright says (Ibis, 1864, p. 139), " Schembri records the capture of several 

 examples at Marsascirocco (a bay on the south-east coast of Malta), at the Marsa, and on the 

 islet of Comino, all in April 1843. Since then I have not heard of any others having been 

 taken." It has been met with in Greece, but only as a very rare straggler, as Von der Miihle 

 says (Om. Griechenl. p. 84) that he observed one between Nauplia and Epidaurus, and procured 

 a specimen from Eubcea. I can find no record of its ever having been met with in Southern 

 Germany ; nor does it appear to have occurred in Turkey in Europe ; but Von Nordmann states 

 that it is found in Southern Russia, where it is very rare in the Ekaterinoslaw district, but 

 common in the Caucasus and along the Araxes; Eversmann speaks of it (J. f. O. 1853, p. 292) 

 as inhabiting the Kirghis steppes, near Lake Ural; and Menetries, who described it as new 

 under the name of Pterocles caspius, says (I. c.) that it is tolerably rare in the steppes not far 

 from Bakou in the month of April. It is found in Asia Minor ; and in a letter received some 

 time ago from Dr. Kriiper he informs me that it breeds near Smyrna, on the extensive sand- 

 plains which skirt the river. Canon Tristram did not obtain a specimen when in Palestine ; but 

 he saw it several times in flocks, and says (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 449) that he has "no hesitation in 

 enumerating it as a Palestine species." In North-east Africa it is recorded by Von Heuglin (Orn. 

 N.O.-Afr. p. 855) as occurring in the Syrten, and from the vicinity of Beni-Ghazi, but was not 

 met with by Captain Shelley in Egypt, where it does not appear to occur. It is common in 

 North-western Africa, where it inhabits the sand-plains; and Mr. O. Salvin (Ibis, 1859, p. 352) 

 says that the only localities where he met with it in Algeria were the extensive sand-plains 

 termed the Harakta, of which El Tharf is one of the largest. Dr. Tristram says (Ibis, I860, 



