Further to the east into north-central India, where precipitation 
reaches 27 inches per year, this species is not uncommon although the 
the flocks are smaller and more scattered than in the drier Thar Desert, 
An example of conditions here is the area surrounding Agra and New Delhi 
where suitable habitat is limited to flat or rolling semiarid patches of 
wasteland checkerboarded in between and surrounding rather extensive 
plots of cultivated lands. Because of the high utilization of flat lands 
for agriculture, eroded areas or bench lands at the foot of low, rolling 
hills serve as the primary habitat for the comnon sandgrouse. The 
vegetation of these areas is similar to that found in the Thar Desert, 
being throny brush with an understory of grasses and forbs. Since the 
common sandgrouse shys away from dense vegetation and mountainous terrain, 
fallow fields form a much more important part of the habitat complex in 
this region than they do in the Thar Desert. 
The common Indian sandgrouse does not rely on escape cover. The 
natural protective coloration of this species blends in well with desert 
sand and rocks. This bird is strong on the wing and seems to prefer to 
remain in open country, where visibility is good, and depends upon its 
quick powers of flight for protection. 
Climatic Comparisons 
As previously mentioned, Program studies in northwestern and north- 
central India and West Pakistan showed that annual precipitation in 
common Indian sandgrouse habitat ranged from a low of 3 inches to a high 
of 27 inches. There are reports of this bird being found in other parts 
of India and as Baker (3) put it they "occur practically everywhere in 
the plains where the rainfall is not too heavy." In general it appears 
that as precipitation increases from arid to the upper reaches of the 
semiarid classification, with the result that land utilization for 
agriculture becomes more intensive and brush vegetation becomes more 
abundant on wasteland, the amount of common sandgrouse habitat decreases 
proportionately. Similarly, common sandgrouse are more numerous in 
the drier regions and less abundant where the precipitation is higher. 
Precipitation throughout the range of the common sandgrouse in India 
is of the monsoon type, and in many respects is not unlike the pattern 
found in portions of the semiarid regions of the southwestern United 
States. 
The seasonal range of the mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures 
in a portion of common Indian sandgrouse habitat in southwest Asia is 
presented in table 1. These resident areas extend from central India 
and the Thar Desert of India westward into Sind and Baluchistan in 
West Pakistan. 
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