ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE SAND GROUSE
(Suborder Pterocles)
The Sand Grouse, or Pigeon-Grouse as Huxley very appropriately called them, are a small but very peculiar and interesting group of birds that seem to combine in a measure the characters of several orders.
They are small Grouse-like or Pigeon-like birds, approximating ten or twelve inches in length, with a rather stocky body, long, pointed wings, and very short legs and toes. The bill, although not so strongly developed, resembles that of the Fowl-like birds (Galliformes), and the digestive organs are galline, while the young present many characters that suggest the same type.
On the other hand, they agree with the Pigeons in the vocal organs as well as in certain details of the skull, shoulder girdle, and sternum, but differ in the form of the legs and feet and somewhat in the feather pattern, and in possessing an aftershaft to the contour feathers.
In certain features they even suggest the Plovers, while their eggs are not greatly unlike those of Rails; but they are said to drink like Pigeons, that is,”thrusting the bill up to the nostrils into the water, and retaining it there until the thirst is satisfied,”and altogether they seem to be rather closer to the Pigeons, but forming, nevertheless, a very distinct group.
They are comprised in a single family (Ptero-clida), which embraces three genera and seventeen species, all confined to the Old World, with a few forms extending by migration into southern Europe.
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