498 

 RUFOUS TURTLE-DOVE. 



Turtur orientalis {Latham). 



Accidental straggler from Asia, of extremely rare occurrence. 



The first British example of this Asiatic Dove was made 

 known through the instrumentahty of Mr. James Backhouse, 

 who procured it from Mr. Head, a naturahst of Scarborough, 

 near which town it had been captured on 23rd October 1889. 

 The bird was forwarded to the late H. Seebohm, who declared 

 it to be Turtur orientalis, in first plumage, probably a wild 

 bird, and a most interesting addition to the list of accidental 

 visitors to England. 



The specimen in question has been presented by Mr. 

 Backhouse to the collection of birds in the York Museum 

 (Nat. 1890, p. 258 ; P.Z.S. 1890 ; Saunders' " Manual," 

 2nd Ed. p. 487). 



[An example of the American Passenger Pigeon {Ecto- 

 pistes migratorius, L.), killed at Mulgrave, near Whitby, on 

 I2th October 1876 (" Birds of Nd. and Dm." p. 337, and 

 Zool. 1877, p. 180), proved to be an escaped bird.] 



PALLAS'S SAND GROUSE. 



Syrrhaptes paradoxus {Pall). 



Accidental visitant from the Asiatic Steppes, of extremely rare 

 and irregular occurrence. 



This singular looking bird, which is a resident of Chinese 

 Tartary, is an accidental wanderer to the British Isles, its 

 first appearance in Yorkshire taking place during the year 

 1863, when a remarkable visitation was recorded. The 

 facts, so far as they concern this county, are to be found in 

 the Zoologist for 1863 (pp. 8688-89, 8722-24, and 1865, 

 p. 9563), and a careful computation of the records made by 

 Mr. W. Eagle Clarke resulted in his being able to state (" Hand- 



