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THE BLACK-BELLIED SAND GROUSE, 
Pterocles arenarius. Native names : Shut titur , Bur titur , Bahht , Hind. ; 
Panchur , Kurmor , Peshawar; Katinga, Sind. 
Habitat .—A winter visitor, arriving in October and leaving in March ; it is 
found throughout the U. P., the Punjab, Rajputana, Nepal, and the Northern 
portion of Central India, Khandesh and Gujerat. 
Description .—Male— upper plumage mixed dark grey and fulvous, with a 
large patch of fulvous on the wing. Crown of head and neck brownish grey, 
wing quills dark slaty. Tail feathers fulvous, barred with black and grey 
and broadly tipped with white. Throat, chestnut, ending in a black band"; 
breast grey with a black band across the middle; belly and sides of body 
black ; thighs and feathers under tail w r hite. 
Female—closely resembles the male except that the fore neck and upper 
breast are spotted. 
Length, 14 inches ; wing, 9 inches; tail, 4 inches ; legs, grey; irides, 
brown; bill, bluish ; weight, 20 oz. 
They are fond of ploughed land and wide, open, sandy plains; they 
occur in large flocks, sometimes in countless multitudes, feed morning and 
evening, and take a mid-day siesta like all grouse. 
