81 



generally found several pairs together. Like hens they scratch a hole in the greyish white salty 

 hillocks which cover large tracts on the banks of the Tarei-nor, and on which the salt plants 

 grow. I have often watched them resting in these places ; at first they run about as if searching 

 for something ; and then at about eleven o'clock, when it becomes hot, they rest, scratching a 

 hole in the ground, and, like barn-door fowls, working themselves in comfortably, the body being 

 inclined sideways, and the plumage, which is otherwise so smooth, being puffed out. They do 

 not place a sentinel, but sit quietly, their plumage assimilating so well with the soil that they 

 can scarcely be distinguished. When disturbed they rise uttering a cry, and fly off like an 

 arrow propelled from a bow ; and all that hear the alarm-cry at once take flight also, even if not 

 belonging to the same flock. One then sees them pack together, then divide into small flocks 

 again, and by degrees again take to their resting-places. So swift are they on the wing that it 

 is scarcely possible for the swiftest Falcon to catch them ; and their flight is swifter and straighter 

 than that of a Pigeon. I doubt, however, if they can run far, as when I have been watching 

 them they ran swiftly but not for any distance. It is curious how the large flocks migrate away 

 in the summer ; I myself had a peculiar instance of this from personal observation. Late in 

 May I went to visit the Aral Island, in the Tarei-nor, and had to pass the large tract where the 

 lake was dried out ; and in the forenoon I saw a number of flocks of Sand-Grouse, which inhabited 

 this place and were so shy that I could not possibly approach them. After many unsuccessful 

 attempts to shoot them, I gave up the chance till the evening. At sunset they had collected 

 into two large flocks of at least a thousand individuals each, and were making a great noise ; and 

 it was now impossible to approach them. After being several times disturbed they left the 

 shores of the Tarei-nor and went to the neighbouring wintering-place of the flocks, where, from 

 the numerous droppings, there was always a large blackish brown patch on the sterile steppe. 

 Here they remained undisturbed, as the darkness prevented me from following them ; but they 

 continued calling loudly. On the next day not one was to be seen ; and later on I did not see- 

 one. The herdsmen also assured me that there were no Sand-Grouse left, but that they would 

 return in the autumn ; and such proved to be the case. In October, when hunting JEquus hemionus 

 and Antilojye gutturosa north of the Dalai-nor, a large noisy flock passed me, travelling from the 

 south to the north. Here on the north-east of the Gobi, if they remain in the autumn, the 

 natives calculate on a mild winter. From the foregoing one can see that the name paradoxus is 



a very suitable one for this bird The flesh of this Sand-Grouse is white and very good. In 



the interior of Mongolia it is said to be so common that the Cossack guard that convoys the 

 missionaries to Pekin live chiefly on these birds during the journey." 



Four eggs of the present species taken by Dr. G. Eadde, now in my collection, do not vary 

 much, inter se. They are stone-buff or ochreous-buff in colour, marked with pale purplish brown 

 shell-blotches and dark brown surface-spots, which are somewhat sparingly scattered over the 

 surface of the shell ; in one some of the markings are contorted in hieroglyphic shape. In size 

 they vary from If £ by 1^- to Iff by 1^ inch. 



As above stated, the present species nested in Denmark during the irruption which took place 

 in 1863; and some interesting details were published by Professor Reinhardt, and by him com- 

 municated to Professor Newton (Ibis, 1864, p. 195). From these I extract the following, viz. : — 

 "Early in June last (1863), Herr Bulow, an officer in the Custom-House at Bingkjobing, sent the 



