228 
SAND GROUSE. 
lay more tlian tlii’ce eggs, this being the invariable 
number of the genus. These are of a character most 
unlike that of any other gallinaceous bird with which 
I am acquainted, being extremely elongated, compressed 
in the centre, and exactly the same size at each end — 
in fact perfectly ellij^tical. The eggs are placed two 
in a line, and the third Icngthw'ays outside them in 
a depression in the sand without any nest. The bird 
in sitting, as I have observed, lies on one side spread- 
ing out one wing to cover the eggs, thus presenting a 
grotesque lop-sided appearance ; but it is a posture 
for which the deep keel of her sternum admirably 
adapts her.” 
“The flesh of the Sand Grouse is extremely white, 
but very poor and dry, without any flavour. We never 
discovered any mode of cooking by which it could be 
rendered tasty, or even palatable. I have seen both 
the common species thrive while in captivity, and almost 
domesticated in the courtyards of Arabs’ houses.” 
The egg which I have figured is one taken by Mr. 
Tristram, and kindly sent to me. It measures one inch 
and nine tenths long, and four inches and one tenth 
round the middle. 
Captain Irby, in a valuable paper in the “Ibis,” vol. 
iii, p. 235, on the “Birds observed in Oudh and 
Kumaon,” says that two or three large flocks of P. 
arenariiis were seen near Hurdue in January 1860, 
and many killed. He quite confirms the statements of 
Dr. Leith Adams and Mr. Tristram, about the uneatable 
character of the Sand Grouse. “Both species,” says 
Captain Irby, of the Indian Sand Grouse which I 
have tasted are uneatable, and in this respect certainly 
tend to confirm what tlie natives say, ‘that they live 
upon sand.’ ” 
