223 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
the neighbourhood run rapidly to the spot^ and commence 
pecking at the bars of the cage ; this soon breaks the 
thready and the spring-cover falls^ ringing a small bell at 
the same time^ by which the owner^ who remains concealed^ 
is warned of a capture. Fifteen or twenty are occasionally 
caught in this way in a single day/^ 
The desert parts of Asia and Africa are frequented by 
species of the genus Pterocles, or Sand-grouse^ in which the 
tail is pointed and the toes are naked^ while the thumbs as 
befitting birds which run much^ is small ; a small ring only 
round the eyes is devoid of feathers. They fly with great 
quickness^ having long pointed wings^ and are altogether 
adapted for a life in the desert^ which to them is a well- 
furnished home. Dr. Andrew Smith, in his admirable ' Il- 
lustrations of the Zoology of South Africa"^/ has made some 
interesting remarks on their habits. He says that the Pte- 
rocles gutturalis, like the other South African species^ re- 
pairs in large flocks, " at regular and fixed periods, to loca- 
lities where water exists/^ and seeks the water about ten in 
the morning and three in the afternoon, at which hours the 
P. tachypetes, a native of a different district, also repairs to 
its watering-place. The P. variegatus prefers to drink dur- 
* Jves, plate iii. {Pterocles gutturalis). 
