SAND-GROUSE. 489 



these, however, were merely the skirmishers of a larger army which 

 arrived in Galizia and Moravia on May 6th, and rolled westward to 

 the Atlantic ; spreading southward as far as Rimini in Italy, as well 

 as to the Pyrenees. Northward they reached the F?eroes and about 

 lat. 62° in Norway, while a few eggs were taken among the sand- 

 hills of Denmark and Holland. In 1872 small flocks were observed 

 in Northumberland and Ayrshire ; in 1876 a pack was seen in May 

 near Winterton in Norfolk, and in October two birds were shot in 

 CO. Kildare, Ireland. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the 

 year 1876 witnessed the establishment of an important colony on 

 the Kirghiz steppes beyond the Volga. 



In 1 888, from the end of February onwards, it was noticed that 

 flocks of Sand-Grouse were in movement on the steppes of Oren- 

 burg in Eastern Russia ; next, flocks were observed passing over 

 Poland, the Austrian Empire, and various parts of Germany ; while 

 by May the invasion had reached the British Islands. The eastern 

 districts were, naturally, the most favoured, and two clutches of eggs 

 were taken on the wolds above Beverley in Yorkshire by Mr. 

 Swailes ; but the birds were widely spread over the country, even to 

 the extreme west. In Scotland, where Mr. W. Evans estimated 

 that the sojourners were from 1,500 to 2,000 in number, a young 

 bird was found on the Culbin Sands, Moray, in 1888 by Mr. 

 Alexander Scott, game-keeper to Major Chadwick, who further 

 succeeded in finding another nestling in 1889. This was sent in 

 the flesh to Prof. Newton, and its portrait by Islr. Frohawk, with full 

 description, appeared in 'The Ibis,' 1890, pp. 207-214, pi. vii. As on 

 the former invasion, visitors found their way to the Outer Hebrides, 

 and some also alighted in the Orkneys and Shetlands. In Ireland a 

 considerable number were captured or observed, the migration extend- 

 ing on this occasion as far west as Belmullet, co. Mayo. A special 

 Act of Parliament was passed for the protection of Sand-Grouse in 

 1888, but very great destruction had already taken place during the 

 summer of their arrival, and the Act did not take effect until 

 February 1889, by which time most of the survivors of the 

 '* warm reception " given to the new-comers had succumbed to 

 the moisture of our climate, or had departed for more congenial 

 regions. 



On the Continent, the irruption of 1888 reached southward to 

 Valencia in Spain, and northward to lat. 62^ 24' in Norway. The 

 home of this species is to be found from the eastern side of the 

 Caspian to the Tian-Shan and the Altai ranges, all over Mongolia 

 and Southern Daiiria, down to the Koko-nor and Tsaidam, and in 



