If hard-pressed, however, imperials will sometimes alight 
in the open water, drink, and depart. If frequently disturbed, as 
often happened in trapping or shooting at waterholes, the birds are 
apt to rise, circle several times, then seek out another place to 
drink. In Turkey the mere setting of inconspicuous nets in a location 
frequented by at least 200 sandgrouse caused all but a few stragglers 
to forsake the spot for other water by the end of the third day. 
The regularity with which most sandgrouse, including imperial, 
come to drink often causes comment. In July, in central Turkey, one 
could set his watch at 8 a.m. by the arrival of the first birds. 
By 10 a.m. the last bird had departed, 
Birds coming to water from a stream edged by fields of wheat, 
seldom stopped to eat and refused completely to touch grain scattered 
in and about the traps set to catch them at the water's edge. Their 
thirst sated, they rise, en masse or in small groups, to disappear 
over the horizon. 
Tremendous concentrations of birds may be found about water in 
India (3, 14) and less frequently in Saudi Arabia (26) in winter. 
These are an aggregate of many small flocks which have joined forces 
enroute, Christensen (14) contributes the following observations on 
the water-drinking habits of the imperial sandgrouse at the famous 
Gajner tank (pond) near Rikaner, India. "I observed that the Imperial 
takes water early, coming to the tank just shortly after sun-up and 
prior to the Common Sand Grouse which follows it to water. Before 
watering, the birds assemble, sometimes by the thousands, on dry 
barren flats near the tank. Once the flock has accumulated, they 
will arise en masse and begin to cirele the tank. If not disturbed, 
for these birds are much more wary than the Common Sand Grouse, 
they will land, water, and fly off to their feeding grounds. During 
the winter of 1959, I witnessed the fantastic sight of an estimated 
8,000 Imperials watering at the Gajner tank near Bikaner, India." 
A portion of the imperial sandgrouse observed by Christensen at the 
Gajner tank is shown in figure 35. 
In summer in Turkey, flocks of a few to 50 birds could be seen 
continually winging in to water, drinking, and after departure, 
breaking up into smaller groups in the far distance. Even in winter 
there is no counterpart to the massive Indian flocks that we observed 
in India, 
Various species of sandgrouse congregate at watering places 
with no apparent difficulties. Christensen mentions imperials and 
common Indian sandgrouse drinking together at the same tank, At 
Ceylan Pinar (Antelope Springs) west of Mardin, Turkey, in December, 
I watched small flocks of imperials sandwiched in among a pack of 
at least 50,000 pintailed sandgrouse wheeling and circling over the 
water, pausing to drink then again joining the milling, airborne 
thousands in a scene of unforgettable confusion. 
51 
