1322. Pteroclurus senegallus

1322. Pteroclurus senegallus.

The Spotted Sand-Grouse.

Tetrao senegallus, Linn. Mantissa, p. 526 (1767-71). Pterocles senegallus, Jerdon, B. 1, iii, p. 504; Hume, S. F. i, p. 221 ; ii, p. 331; iv, p. 4 ; James, S. F. iii, p. 418 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 508; v, p. 222 ; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1876, p. 280; Hume, S. F. v, p. 60 ; vii, p. 161; id. Cat. no. 801 bis; Hume & Marsh. Game B. i, p. 53, pl.; iii, pl. 3 (egg); Tufnell, S. F. ix, p. 200; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 118; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 297 ; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 366. Pterocles guttatus, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 64 (1823) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1872, p. 89. Pteroclurus senegallus, Ooilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 14.

Nandu Katinyo, Gutu, Sind.

Coloration, Male. Crown, back, and rump isabelline ; forehead, supercilia (with narrow band below eye), and nape, forming a band surrounding the crown, dull pale ashy ; lores whitish ; scapulars, tertiaries, median and greater secondary-coverts purplish brown, buff at the tips, the tips of the longer scapulars ochreous yellow ; lesser coverts, primary-coverts, and primaries buff, the latter brown towards the end, all except the first two or three with oblique pale tips ; greater coverts dark, except on the edge ; upper tail-coverts isabelline washed with yellow ; middle tail-feathers the same with long black points, the other tail-feathers dark brown with oblique white tips; chin, throat, cheeks, and sides of neck deep ochreous yellow ; lower parts from throat buff, greyish on the upper breast; middle of abdomen to vent blackish brown.

Female buff, the upper parts and upper breast spotted with black, the spots becoming bands on the scapulars, tertiaries, and middle tail-feathers; tertiaries tinged with yellow towards the ends; wings, outer tail-feathers, and lower parts except upper breast as in male.

Bill bluish grey; irides brown; orbits yellowish ; feet bluish white (Hume).

Length of male about 14; tail 5.75 ; wing 7.75 ; tarsus .9 ; bill from gape .65. Length of female about 1.3; tail 4.25 ; wing 7.75. The middle tail-feathers are about 2 inches longer than the others in males, 1 inch or less in females.

Distribution. Northern Africa to south of the Sahara and Southwestern Asia. Common in Sind west of the Indus, rare to the eastward, but recorded from the neighbourhood of the Runn of Cutch, including Kattywar, and from Jamboghora, west of Ahmedabad; also from Pokaran between Jeysulmere and Jodhpore, and from Shahpur district in the Punjab. Mhow is given as a locality in the British Museum Catalogue for a specimen received from Col. Swinhoe, but in error; the specimen thus marked is really from Pirchoki, below the Bolan Pass.

Habits. Similar to those of P. exustus. Generally resident, but not known to breed east of the Indus; and it is said that even in Western Sind the majority are cold-weather visitors. I obtained an egg, fully formed and measuring 1.5 by 1.05, from a female I shot west of Shikarpur on March 20, 1875.