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Show 256 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE PTEROCLIDA. [Feb. 19, GEnas bicincta, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. vol. xii. (1817) p. 421; id. Gal. Ois. vol. ii. (1834) p. 60 (text). Double-banded Grouse, Lath. Gen. Hist. B. vol. viii. (1823) p. 259. Pterocles bicinctus, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) Pterocles, sp. 2 ; Less. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 516, sp. 2 ; Reich. Syn. Av. Gallime (1851) pl. ccviii. figs. 1819-20 ; Strickl. and Sclat. Contr. Ornith. (1852) p. 157 ; Layard, Birds S. Afr. (1867) p. 278 ; Ayres, Ibis (1869) p. 298; Gurn. Anderss. Birds Dam. L. (1872) p. 241; Buckley, Ibis (1874) p. 385; Bocage, Journ. fiir Ornith. (1876) p. 303. Hab. Transvaal, near the Limpopo (Ayres) ; Limpopo, to the Matabili country (Buckley) ; Damara and Great Namaqua Lands (Andersson). This is the most common of the Sand-Grouse found near the Limpopo, according to Mr. Ayres, with perhaps the exception of P. gutturalis. The greater number in June were in flocks, although some few had paired and were breeding. The eggs are laid on the bare ground, and are brownish pink, spotted and blotched all over, particularly at the thick end, with a lighter tint of the same colour. Size lj¥ Dy "M inch. This species was also found to be very abundant from the Limpopo to the Matabili country by Mr. Buckley; and in the evening they come down in immense flocks to the water-holes to drink. During the day he met with them chiefly in pairs, or three individuals together; and when they rose from the ground they uttered a creaking note. According to Andersson, this species is very abundant in Damara and Great Namaqua Lands, and can always be met with during the dry season at any of the permanent watering-places to which they resort at morning and evening. When dispersed they usually go in pairs, and feed chiefly on the seeds of grasses and berries, mingling with their food considerable quantities of coarse sand. Their flesh, though very white, is excessively tough, and it is best to skin the bird before cooking. The iris is deep red, the skin round the eye chrome-yellow. The figure given by Sonnerat in his * Voyage aux Indes Orientals et a la Chine' is evidently referable to this species ; from having only two bands upon the breast, a white one succeeded by a black one, it cannot possibly represent P. fasciatus, Scop., to which it has been referred by some authors. In his text Sonnerat only mentions one band, the white one, which does not describe any species of Sand Grouse at present known. The locality, " cote de Coromandel," however, is not one of the habitats of the present species, so far as I am aware, as it is apparently solely found in Africa. The specimens described by Temminck were given to him by Le Vaillant, who procured them in Namaqualand. Male. Black bar across the forehead, in front of which and over each eye is a white spot, these latter sometimes coalescing and forming a white bar behind the black one. Top of head and occiput rufous, streaked with black. Throat, sides of neck, upper part of |
