
Distribution and Relative Abundance 
The common Indian sandgrouse is one of seven subspecies mentioned 
by Peters (31). It is distributed through West Pakistan and the drier 
parts of India. Baker (3) believes that the Indian variety is identical 
to P. e. erlangeri which inhabits southern Palestine, the Syrian Desert 
and Iraq. 
In India, the common sandgrouse is most abundantly found in the Thar 
or Sind Desert. Here,during the summer period when water is restricted, 
it is not uncommon to find as many as 2,000 to 3,000 birds drinking at a 
single waterhole. During the monsoons, when water is more widespread, 
the birds travel in smaller flocks nunbering up to 30 or 40 birds. Al- 
though large concentrations of common sandgrouse are found in the Thar 
desert, Hume (21) referring to other regions of India, states that "The 
common sandgrouse, though very frequently met with in considerable packs 
numbering from twenty to two hundred individuals, is never, so far as my 
experience goes, seen in A mites iat locks which P. alchata and, in a 
somewhat lesser degree, P. arenarius 4) affect. In all parts of the 
country where I have shot them, I have most frequently seen them in 
parties of from five to thirty." Observations by Program personnel in 
the Agra-Delhi area also indicate that the common sandgrouse is found 
in this region only in scattered numbers. 
Description 
The sexes of the common sandgrouse can easily be distinguished on 
the basis of coloration and Baker (3) presented a detailed description 
as follows: 
Adult Male 
"Crown to upper tail-covert isabelline-grey or isabelline-brown, 
darkest on the coverts, palest on the crown; lores, cheeks, chin, and 
throat dull yellow-ochre, often tinged with orange-buff, extending to 
form a collar around the neck, but shading off into the other parts; 
scapulars and interscapulars darker and shading into ochreous-buff at 
the tips, which are edged with brown; greater secondary coverts and 
inner secondaries buff or ochreous-buff, the latter shaded with olive 
on the inner webs and inside of outer webs; inner lesser coverts like 
the back, gradually changing to buff or ochreous on the remaining lesser, 
median and greater coverts, which are also margined with paler buff; edge 
of wing, winglet, primary coverts and primaries dark brown, the inner 
primaries with broad, oblique bands of white at the ends; outer second- 
aries brown; upper breast vinous-buff, divided from the lower breast 
by a narrow band of black bordered with white; lower breast dull 
yellow-buff, changing gradually into the chocolate of the rest of the 
lower plumage and the black of the centre of the abdomen; under tail- 
coverts and tarsi creamy-buff; central tail-feathers like the back, 
becoming black on the prolonged narrow portions; outer tail-feathers 
tipped with pale buff and with some dark freckling next to the tip on 
the outermost pair." 
en ———————— 
(a) P. arenarius is a synonym of P. orientalis. 
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