f 



I® It - 



Pterocles lichtensteini, Temminck. 



Vernacular Names.— \Nom?\ 



T is only in the Trans-Indus portions of Sind that 

 this pretty Sand-Grouse has as yet been observed 

 within our limits. 

 Until I discovered it in 1872 at Gul Muhammad, Mehar, 

 (j> in Upper Sind, it was not known to occur outside 

 North-East Africa, where in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, 

 and Somali land, it would appear to have its home. 

 Jerdon, it is true, says that it is common in Arabia, and so it 

 not improbably is, but I cannot discover that he had any 

 authority for the statement. It has not yet been observed in 

 either Beluchistan or Southern Persia, but it must almost cer- 

 tainly occur in the former at any rate. 



In 1876, Captain Wise procured and sent me several speci- 

 mens, some from the Erie Hills and others from the Kurrachee 

 District, where in some seasons it is not uncommon. 



In Sind they seem to be only winter visitants, almost, if not 

 wholly, absent in some years, and never seen in any great num- 

 bers. 



With us they are generally met with in pairs or par- 

 ties of three or four, in the neighbourhood of some little patch of 

 cultivation, or where broken, rocky ground or scrub afford some 

 kind of cover. They lie well, and though they fly fast enough, 

 like all their congeners, when well under weigh, rise an easy 

 shot. 



Blanford, in his Zoology of Abyssinia, tells us that " this 

 bird has precisely the same habits as the closely-allied 

 Pt. fasciatus of India. It is rarely, if ever, seen on open sandy 

 plains. 



" It keeps to bush and thin tree jungle, and is usually found 

 solitary, in pairs, or, at the most, two or three pairs together. 

 I once came upon a considerable flock in January, and possibly 

 at that time these birds may collect in large numbers, but in 

 May, June, July, and August, it was rare to see more than four 



