THE SAND GROUSE. 
751 
basking in the sun, sometimes half on their sides, half 
on their bellies. The appearance of a bird of prey upon 
the scene is the signal for the whole covey to become 
instantly transformed, as it were, into clods of earth or 
stones: not a bird moves, all is silent and still. The 
enemy disappears, and the old game begins afresh. 
The flight of the Sand Grouse is very easy, often 
rather high and rapid, accompanied with a whirring 
sound of the wings, which reminds one of the Partridge, 
though louder than that of our old friend. Morning, 
mid-day, and evening, at certain regular hours, the covey 
betakes itself to the water-holes to drink. At a desert 
spring one may safely count on seeing some hundreds 
come to quench their thirst in the course of an hour. 
Each covey remains but from one to two minutes by the 
water-side; they run to the spring, drink like Pigeons, 
retire, and fly away again the same way that they came. 
They roost in the grass-covered portions of the desert; in 
Africa, often in the neighbourhood of villages; but in 
Spain, always far away from them. They seem to require 
but little sleep, for they may be heard on moonlight 
nights at all hours, and when frightened at night can 
take good care of themselves. 
In North Africa these birds breed at our spring time, 
and in Central Africa at the commencement of the rains, 
which season takes the place of our spring. They breed 
in pairs, and are not polygamists, though I have been 
told that they live in companies even during the breeding 
season. We may rest assured that the males fight a good 
deal amongst themselves, for such as I have seen kept in 
captivity were very quarrelsome at breeding time, seeking 
to drive off all their cage companions. I was not fortu¬ 
nate enough to find a nest myself: the Arabs described it 
