128 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Order V. PTEROCLIDES 



Fam. PTEROCLID^. 



PINTAILED SAND-GROUSE. Syrrhaptes paradoxus 

 (Pallas). Length, 15 in. ; wing, 10 in. ; weight, lOi oz. 



Although this species has on several occasions 

 and in different years visited the British Islands in 

 considerable numbers, and has even nested in this 

 country {cf. Ibis, 1890, p. 207, PI. 8), it can only be 

 regarded as an occasional and very erratic vranderer 

 from Turkestan and the Kirghis Steppes, and for 

 this reason should perhaps be relegated to Part II. of 

 this " Handbook." It may, however, be mentioned 

 here en passant, as the only representative of its 

 Order in the British Avifauna. 



Order VI. GALLING 



Fam. TETRAONID^. 



CAPERCAILLIE. Tetrao urogallus, Linnaeus. Length, 

 32 in. ; wing, 15 in. ; tarsus, 2 '5 in. 



As to the proper mode of spelling the name of 

 this bird, we have it on the authority of the Rev. 

 Dr. Maclauchlan, a well-known Gaelic scholar, 

 that it is derived from the Gaelic cahha7^-coiUe, or 

 " bird of the wood," the Snipe being cahhar-athar, 

 or "bird of the air" (ether). Dr. Maclauchlan con- 

 siders, therefore, that caher-coille is the orthography 



