ON THE BREEDING OF THE SAND GHOUSE IN CAPTIVITY. 343 



A young one hatched on August 18th was smothered under 

 the hen. 



The following is a summary of the results : — 



June 15. One egg. Destroyed by hen. 



„ 17. One egg. Young hatched July 9th, died. 



„ 27.) 



0Q [ Three eggs. Set under hen July 1st; two young hatched 



" ^' 1 July 24th. 



„ 30.J y 



July 8. | Two eggs. Set under hen July 13th; two young hatched 

 „ 10. J August 6th. 



„ 20. One egg. Destroyed by hen. 

 „ 22. One egg. Hatched August 18th. 



Thanks are due to Herr Christensen, not only for this in- 

 formation, hut also for permission to draw the living young Sand 

 Grouse, while the Zoological Museum at Kjobenhavn is indebted 

 to him for one of the dead chicks, together with the egg-shell 

 belonging to it. 



The newly-hatched chick agrees very well on the whole with 

 Prof. Newton's description and figure (' The Ibis,' 1890, pp. 207 

 — 214, pi. vii.) of the young bird which was obtained in Scotland 

 in 1889, the only one which has hitherto been closely studied. 

 Yet the colour-marking, especially on the head, is more regular 

 than in Professor Newton's figure, reminding one rather of 

 Mr. Bartlett's figure of the young of Pterocles alchata (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1866, pi. ix.). 



Thus there is a very distinct light stripe over the eye, and 

 another running from the gape along the cheek to behind the ear. 

 The down resembles in every respect that of the Charadriidce, 

 Scolopacidce, and Laridce. 



I saw the living Sand Grouse chick for the first time on 

 August 18th, when it was twelve days old. The next day it was 

 sketched and painted by Herr H. Gronvold (pi. iv. fig. 2). It 

 was then still for the most part in down ; but, on the back and 

 wings especially, the feathers were just ready to sprout. Many 

 of the sprouting feathers had still their ''down-pencil" on 

 the tip (dunpenselen i spidsen, pi. iv. fig. 3). Unlike what is 

 seen in the adult Sand Grouse, the feathers of the back and 

 wing-coverts were marked tolerably uniformly and regularly, 

 every feather being bordered with a light and dark stripe, the 

 rest light, with a couple of- dark arrow-shaped cross-bars in. 



