The Occurrence, Habits and Breeding of the Spotted Sandgrouse (Pteroclurus Senegallus) in the Bahawalpur State, Punjab

· 1922 · Text public domain; the scan hosted non-commercially, with credit · archive.org ↗

1808 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII,

2On the 7th current I was driving in a car through the desert at a place about

310 miles West of Ahmadpur East with a companion when I noticed a bird on

4the ground that seemed worth investigation. It was late in the afternoon,

5but we got out and looked. The bird proved to be a Sandgrouse, and, on ap-

6proaching nearer, we saw that there were two. Then a second pair came in

7view and, by the time I looked at the first pair again, I found there were with

8them a pair of young ones about one-third their size, but well able to move

9on the ground. This was distinctly interesting, both because the date struck

10us as early for any Sandgrouse to be breeding and because we had both heard a

11note which assured us that this was senegallus, and were near enough to identify

12the colouring. We have both shot the spotted Sandgrouse recently and his

13note cannot be confused with that of the black-bellied Pterocles arenarius

14or the common Pteroclurus exustus.

15The old birds with their young ran on ahead of us, and the tactics of the old

16ones were perfect. There was only one tiny bit of cover in the near neighbour-

17hood in this waste of hard wind-swept clay, viz. a thin strip of dwarfish

18bush not more than a few inches high. In this the parents left their babies,

19while they themselves ran on ahead and went through the most approved decoy

20antics. We were not deceived however and proceeded to hunt for the nest-

21lings, which were soon found squatting very close with heads drawn in

22and looking exactly like the bits of dry came: dung which are to be found about.

23My friend stalked one little bird and caught it successfully in his hand, the in-

24fant not moving till it was secured. The other, either alarmed at the fate of

25its companion or because more advanced (there was a distinct difference in size

26between the two), got up as I approached and ran off, flapping its immature

27wings, but I secured it. There seemed a very good chance of our being able to

28bring the chicks up, so we determined to take them back with us. This we did,

29the old birds flying round us most persistently till the last.

30pP g » F

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33These nestlings were densely covered with yellowish down of a most com-

34pletely protective colour. My photo shows the two side by side on a brick

35of regulation size.

36The day but one after, I went out and spent an hour and a half quartering

37the ground in the neighbourhood with a rope. I saw a flock of 14 of the same