Genus PTEROCLES, Temm.
Gen. Char. Beak moderate, compressed, sometimes slender; the upper mandible straight, and
curved towards the point. Nostrils basal, partly closed by a membrane, and covered by
the feathers of the forehead. Feet furnished with short toes, the hind toe being very small,
and articulated high on the tarsus; three toes before united together as far as the first
articulation and edged by a membrane; the front of the tarsus covered with short feathers,
the posterior aspect being naked. Nails very short, that of the hind toe sharp, the rest
obtuse. Tail conical; the two middle feathers occasionally prolonged into filaments.
Wings long and pointed; the first quill-feather longest.
S AN D -G R O U S E .
Pterocles arenarius, Temm.
Le Ganga unibande.
The birds which compose the genus Pterocles have been separated by M. Temminck from the genus Tetrao,
under which they had been previously included; and, as they now stand, form a well-defined genus, the species
o f which inhabits the dry and sandy deserts o f the hotter portions o f the globe. The number, however, is
far from being considerable; two only have, we believe, as yet been ascertained to be natives o f Europe. The
present species is found in many o f the provinces o f Spain, particularly Granada and Andalusia; it is also
found in Sicily and in the deserts o f the North o f Africa, as well as in Asia, whence we have received it
from the Himalaya Mountains. It does not appear to extend itself further northward in Europe than the
places above noticed.
The Pterocles arenarius, as far as our experience goes, is the largest o f its genus, and belongs moreover to
that section o f it which wants the elongated filiform tail-feathers, so characteristic o f the other European
species. In habits, manners, and places o f nidification, it closely resembles the Pterocles set arms,-— circumstances
which we have detailed at length in our description o f that beautiful bird.
The male and female differ considerably in their plumage,— a circumstance in a greater or less degree characteristic
o f the species o f this genus.
In the male, the top o f the head, the occiput and breast are of a delicate grey colour; the back and wing-
coverts light rufous; each feather being irregularly blotched with greyish black and tipped with tawny yellow;
the quill-feathers dark grey; the throat and sides o f the cheeks rufous, beneath which a large triangular black
mark surmounts the delicate grey o f the breast, and across this again extends a black band passing from one
shoulder to the other. The whole o f the under surface is black, with the exception o f the extremities o f the
tail-coverts, which are white; the tail tawny yellow with grey bars, and terminating gradually with the same
colour. Total length twelve or thirteen inches.
In the female, the whole o f the upper surface is o f a tawny yellow, thickly covered with irregular sigsag
and barbed markings o f b lack; the throat merely affords an indication o f the black mark which distinguishes
the male ; the breast is o f the same colour as the upper surface, spotted with black and crossed from
shoulder to shoulder with a narrow band o f black, beneath which, and the under surface which is black, intervenes
a space o f about an inch broad o f a delicate fawn colour; the under tail-coverts partly white as in the
male; feet greenish olive.
We have figured a male and female in their adult plumage, rather less than their natural size.