Genus PTEROCLES, Temm. 



Gen. Char. Beak moderate, compressed, sometimes slender ; the upper mandible straight, and 

 curved towards the point. Nostrils basal, partly closed by a membrane, and covered by 

 the feathers of the forehead. Feet furnished with short toes, the hind toe being very small, 

 and articulated high on the tarsus ; three toes before united together as far as the first 

 articulation and edged by a membrane ; the front of the tarsus covered with short feathers, 

 the posterior aspect being naked. Nails very short, that of the hind toe sharp, the rest 

 obtuse. Tail conical ; the two middle feathers occasionally prolonged into filaments. 

 Wings long and pointed ; the first quill-feather longest. 



SAND-GROUSE. 



Pterocles arenarius, Temm. 

 Le Ganga unibande. 



The birds which compose the genus Pterocles have been separated by M. Temminck from the genus Tetrao, 

 under which they had been previously included ; and, as they now stand, form a well-defined genus, the species 

 of which inhabits the dry and sandy deserts of the hotter portions of the globe. The number, however, is 

 far from being considerable ; two only have, we believe, as yet been ascertained to be natives of Europe. The 

 present species is found in many of the provinces of Spain, particularly Granada and Andalusia ; it is also 

 found in Sicily and in the deserts of the North of Africa, as well as in Asia, whence we have received it 

 from the Himalaya Mountains. It does not appear to extend itself further northward in Europe than the 

 places above noticed. 



The Pterocles arenarius, as far as our experience goes, is the largest of its genus, and belongs moreover to 

 that section of it which wants the elongated filiform tail-feathers, so characteristic of the other European 

 species. In habits, manners, and places of nidification, it closely resembles the Pterocles setarius, — circum- 

 stances which we have detailed at length in our description of that beautiful bird. 



The male and female differ considerably in their plumage, — a circumstance in a greater or less degree cha- 

 racteristic of the species of this genus. 



In the male, the top of the head, the occiput and breast are of a delicate grey colour ; the back and wing- 

 coverts light rufous; each feather being irregularly blotched with greyish black and tipped with tawny yellow; 

 the quill-feathers dark grey; the throat and sides of the cheeks rufous, beneath which a large triangular black 

 mark surmounts the delicate grey of the breast, and across this again extends a black band passing from one 

 shoulder to the other. The whole of the under surface is black, with the exception of the extremities of the 

 tail-coverts, which are white ; the tail tawny yellow with grey bars, and terminating gradually with the same 

 colour. Total length twelve or thirteen inches. 



In the female, the whole of the upper surface is of a tawny yellow, thickly covered with irregular zigzag 

 and barbed markings of black ; the throat merely affords an indication of the black mark which distinguishes 

 the male ; the breast is of the same colour as the upper surface, spotted with black and crossed from 

 shoulder to shoulder with a narrow band of black, beneath which, and the under surface which is black, inter- 

 venes a space of about an inch broad of a delicate fawn colour ; the under tail-coverts partly white as in the 

 male ; feet greenish olive. 



We have figured a male and female in their adult plumage, rather less than their natural size. 



