SAND-GROUSE 405 



this species has now been extirpated, and it is very 

 likely to become extinct unless the laws for its pre- 

 servation can be effectually enforced. 



Order V. PTEROCLIDES 



Fam. PTEROCLIDiE. 



PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE. Syrrhaptes paradoxus 

 (Pallas). Length, 15 in. ; Aving, 10 in. ; weight, 10| oz. 



Hab. Astracan, Turkestan, and particularly the Kirghis 

 Steppes. 



First included in the British list by Mr. T. J. Moore 

 (Zool, 1859, p. 6728, and Ibis, 1860, p. 105) from a 

 specimen obtained at Tremadoc, North Wales, July 9, 

 1859. It was in company with two others which 

 escaped. A specimen in the Lynn Museum was 

 also procured in July 1859 at Walpole, St. Peter's, 

 Norfolk (Rev. F. L. Currie, Ibis, 1859, p. 472; 

 Stevenson, "Birds of Norfolk," vol. i. p. 337). In 

 1863 an extraordinary flight of these birds visited 

 Great Britain, and numerous examples were shot 

 and duly chronicled. A very complete summary of 

 these by Prof. Newton will be found in the Ibis^ 

 1864, p. 185 ; and as regards the counties of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, where as many as seventy-five were 

 killed, the reader may be referred to an excellent 

 chapter on the subject in Stevenson's " Birds of 

 Norfolk," vol. i. pp. 376-404. In Yorkshire, ac- 

 cording to Mr. W. E. Clarke, about eighty were 

 seen in that year (1863), of which twenty- four 



