It is a partial migrant, with some Asian birds moving to the Middle East and northern Pakistan in winter.

Males of the eastern race have duller underparts than the European birds, and the females have white, rather than yellow, wing coverts.

The nominate race, P. a. alchata, breeds in Iberia and southern France, and the eastern form P. a. caudacutus (Gmelin, 1774) is found in northwest Africa, and from southeast Turkey east to Kazakhstan.

The general colouring is cryptic, a blend of barred and flecked olive green, brown, buff, yellow, grey and black.

In the breeding season, the male has the crown, most of the neck, the back and under-wing coverts a yellowish-green colour with dull yellow spots in the shoulder region.

The cheeks are also yellow with a narrow black line extending from the beak, through the eye to the nape of the neck.

[4] In flight, the pin-tailed sandgrouse can be identified by its bright, white underparts and under-wing coverts, and the long feathers in the centre part of its tail.

[4] The pin-tailed sandgrouse breeds in North Africa and the Middle East, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Kazakhstan.

In winter it may visit ploughed or fallow land but prefers sandy soils and is much less reliant on vegetation cover than the black-bellied sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis) which has a similar range.

[4] The pin-tailed sandgrouse often feeds in groups and gathers regularly in large numbers at waterholes, to which the birds fly soon after dawn.

During the day they disperse to forage for seeds, which are the main part of their diet, and also eat buds, green shoots and leaves.

Two or three eggs are laid at intervals of two days, creamy-brown spotted with darker brown, reddish-brown and grey.