54 THE SPOTTED SAND-GROUSE. 



debouches from the hills ; and again,- 1 equally missed them well 

 down into the heart of the cultivated area. 



Denizens of the desert, as their plumage shews them to be 

 at the first glance, they never advance far into the cultiva- 

 tion, to the immediate neighbourhood of which they are attract- 

 ed by the facilities for obtaining food. 



There is little to be said about their habits ; they keep to- 

 gether in parties of from five to fifty ; very often each flock, 

 at any rate in winter, consists of one sex only ; but occasionally 

 I have found both sexes intermingled. They trot about on the 

 dry soil, picking up seeds and occasionally insects, or squat 

 motionless sunning themselves in the early morning sun. They 

 fly off to drink, morning and evening, often to comparatively 

 distant localities, and generally comport themselves much as 

 P. exustus and arenarius do, but are more birds of the wilder- 

 ness than these. I have never seen or heard of them in the 

 enormous flocks or packs, in which the Large and Pintail Sand- 

 Grouse are so often seen. 



In Jeysulmere, as Dr. Newman informed me, and as I subse- 

 quently found, they are very abundant in the desert tracts 

 south of the capital, slightly undulating stony plains, mingled 

 with stretches of blown sand. 



Their flight is rapid and easy, but wherever I have met with 

 them they have been less shy and easier of approach than arena- 

 rius. Their note is peculiar, and has been happily described as a 

 gurgling sound, not unlike that produced by blowing through a 

 small tube, one end of which is immersed in water. It has been 

 syllabled as quidle, quidle, quidle, and this really does recall the 

 note to a certain extent. It has appeared to me that the males 

 of this species are more peaceably inclined, and not so given 

 to perpetually skirmishing with each other as are those of 

 arenarius. 



Their food is mostly seeds, but I found a good many insects 

 mixed with these in the stomachs of those I examined, and they 

 are, I infer, less purely vegetarians than the Large Sand-Grouse. 



Whether it is on this account I cannot say ; indeed it may 

 have been only fancy, but I have always considered that the 

 flesh of this species was less dry and more palatable than that 

 of any other Sand-Grouse. Even admitting this, I can only 

 say that, after eating hundreds of Sand-Grouse of most of our 

 Indian species, I think them very poor food, only at all good 

 when baked in a ball of clay, gipsy fashion. 



Mr, James writes that he has "seen this bird in the Kurrachee 

 and Hyderabad Districts, in Sind, also in the south-east 

 corner of the Runn of Cutch in the Ahmedabad District. It 

 is a permanent resident ; common in Sind, but not so in the 

 Ahmedabad District. Its note is very like that of P. exustus, but 

 not so harsh, and easily distinguishable from it. It frequents 

 cultivated ground and is easily approached on foot. It associates 



