344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



regular marking, reminding one strongly of the corresponding 

 feathers among the different species of Hemipode (Tumix). 



Some years ago my brother, the late Oluf Winge, gave it as 

 his opinion that the Hemipodes were the nearest relations of the 

 Pteroclidce among known birds, and that the Hemipodes were 

 not Gtdlince, as one used to consider them, but came nearest to 

 the doves. Since then I have myself gone into the question, and 

 compared the skeletons of the two birds, and I must say that 

 I hold the same opinion. 



The little chick ran quickly about, standing well up on its 

 legs. It did not utter any whistle, but clucked " gilik" like the 

 old birds, only in a higher key. It was said that it often grovelled 

 in the sand (ofte vceltede sig i sand). Some days later it was 

 photographed. It had then grown somewhat larger, the feathers 

 had sprouted out more, and several of the downy points (dun- 

 sp'uherne) had fallen off, but otherwise it had not materially 

 altered in appearance. On October 13th, when the chick was 

 a little over two months old, I had again an. opportunity of 

 observing it more leisurely and of comparing it with its parents. 

 At a distance it was very like its mother, only perceptibly 

 smaller. On the back and shoulders it had acquired new 

 feathers ; the wing-coverts especially were somewhat altered in 

 appearance, being partly of a light yellow colour, partly light 

 with a single dark kidney-shaped spot, partly light with very 

 irregular dark bars and marblings. The pinion and tail-feathers 

 were, on the contrary, unchanged. The first primary was not 

 almost uniformly coloured, as in the old birds, but the tip and 

 inner web were marbled with darker markings. The tail-feathers 

 were considerably smaller, more mottled than in the case of the 

 old birds, and dark with a lighter border, and with a few light 

 spots towards the edge as a widening of the light border, though 

 not amounting to a barring of light and dark. 



Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his Study of the Pteroclidce (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1878, pp. 262, 263), describes the primaries of the young 

 Sand Grouse almost as in the old. The tail-feathers, on the 

 contrary, he describes somewhat as here noted. 



On February 2nd, 1892, when nearly six months old, the 

 young bird was compared with a number of skins of adult Sand 

 Grouse, and there then appeared two points of difference which 

 had before been overlooked. The dark stripe, which in the adult 



