Pee ROC L ES E XUST U s, Temm.

Vy OR e : ‘el 1
Whistling Sand Grouse.

Ss

Pterocles exustus, 'Temm. Pl. Col. 354, 360.- —Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p- 519.—Blytl

in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 24 9.—Hutton, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xvii p.
Proc. of Comm. of Sci. of Zool. Soc., Part IT. p. 1

1, Cat. of Birds
785.—Sykes in
54.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 517.—Jerd. Madras
Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xii. p. 3—Frankl. in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. of Zool. Soc., Part I.
Bahtah Grous, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. De 2a)

Bur-Teetur, Hindoo.

Common Whistling Grouse and Rock Pigeon, of Europeans.

p. 122.

 

Here we have a Sand Grouse forming an admirable representative in Southern Asia of the Pterocles arenarius
of Europe. It appears to be very generally diffused over the greater portion of the peninsula of India:
Mr. Blyth states that it is found in Hindustan, and in the middle and western provinces of Asia: Colonel Sykes
informs us that it is “a very common bird in the Dukhun; gregarious ; frequenting open stony plains only ;
characterized by the height at which it flies, the rapidity of its flight, and its peculiar and piercing note
announcing its approach ere it can be well seen. It feeds on a quadrangular hard small seed, which I have
found in the stomach of ouly one other bird;” and in the “ Notes on Indian Birds” of the late Hon. F. J.
Shore, I find the following remarks in reference to this species :—‘‘ This bird visits us in the cold season.
In January 1834 I observed several large flocks on some downs and sandy plains covered with short grass
near the village of Gourkera, thirty-seven miles north of Futtehghur. It is also found in the Nerbudda
territory, but is rather scarce there. It often squats so close in the short brown grass that it cannot be
perceived, although only a few yards off.’ From Mr. Jerdon’s valuable Memoir on the Birds of the
Indian Peninsula, we learn that it ‘is a very common and abundant bird in most parts of the open country.
It is not found in wooded districts. It associates in parties varying in number from four or five to fifty, or
even more, and frequents the open stony plains and bare fields. It flies swiftly, and generally at a con-
siderable height, and as Colonel Sykes has remarked, ‘ has a most piercing cry, which often announces its
approach ere it is observed.’ It feeds chiefly on a very hard kind of seed. When approached, it often
squats close, and it is very difficult to distinguish it in some pieces of ground. After its morning meal, it
always goes to some neighbouring water to drink. Its flesh, which is brown and white, is remarkably hard
and tough, and will keep longer than that of any other game bird; this hardness causes it to be less appre-
ciated than it deserves to be, for when kept a sufficient time and well-dressed, it has an excellent flavour,
inferior to very few of the Indian game birds.

“T have found its eggs several times lately in the months of January and February, placed in the ground
without any nest, three in number and of light olive greenish hue, speckled with olive-brown and dusky, of
a very long shape and equally rounded at both ends.”

Captain Hutton’s “Rough Notes on the Ornithology of Canoe nen
throughout the southern parts of Afghanistan. Ihave seen their nests on the bare ground in August, and
the young ready to fly by the end of September. They occur also in Scinde, and in the Bhawulpore (or
Daoodpootra) country.” ie ; ie

I possess specimens collected by Mr. Jerdon near Madras, which present no difference from others killec

>

inform us, that it is ‘‘common

in the northern provinces of India. ; ao

The male has the whole of the upper surface sandy buff, becoming of a paler or ye ower int on the
ith chestnut-brown ; primaries and secondaries dark brown,
ebs of the latter dull white ; forehead, cheeks and chin deep
bounded below by a narrow crescentic band of black ;

wings, where each feather is narrowly tipped w
with the inner webs and the tips of the outer w
yellowish buff; breast sandy buff with a vinous tinge,
below this black band the vinaceous hue gradually deepens ke io ee
tail-coverts pale buff; tail sandy deepening into black, and largely tipped with yellowish bull, the two
lengthened central feathers greyish brown slightly tippe

and toes pale bluish grey.

into chestnut on the belly and thighs ; under

d with buff; irides brown ; bill, orbits, back of tarsi

: ‘k of dark brown
The female has the head, neck before and behind, and chest buff, with a spatulate mark of de i
’ is ari -
line of feathers so marked on the breast crossed by a narrow bar of dark brown

ate (ne owes a broad band of buff; all the upper surface

» breast, be ich 1s

forming an interrupted band across the breast, below whic ‘
‘+k brown; wing-cover

buff, crossed by irregular bars and blotches of dark brown; wing
os a a 17 .

abdomen blackish brown, crossed by narrow ur

tipped with buff; primaries and

egular bars of buff; under
secondaries as in the male;

tail-coverts and front of tarsi pale buff. oo
The figure of the male represented in the accompanying
but in which the central tail-feathers were not so much prolo

The figures are of the natural size.

ate was taken from a remarkably fine specimen,
need as they usually are in adult birds.
5 ’