Pallas' s Sand' Grouse in 1 863. 1 9 7 



34. Heligoland, 7° 55' E. First observed and shot on the 

 21st May. Each successive day, up to the earlier part of June, 

 seen in flocks varying from about three, five, fifteen, to fifty, and 

 once or twice even to a hundred. Out of these nearly thirty 

 were shot, the earlier birds being, with two exceptions, all males, 

 the later nearly all females. On the 22nd June, six again made 

 their appearance ; of these five were shot — all females, and not 

 in fresh plumage. Herr H. Gatke, ' Field,' 25th July, p. 101. 



Herr Gatke infers from the above facts that " all through 

 this abnormal and mysterious excursion of this species, they 

 still adhered to the rules of birds on a regular spring migration 

 — that is, the males forming the van, the finest specimens 

 coming first, after which the females make their appearance, the 

 rear being invariably brought up by weak, badly-developed, or 

 injured individuals of a shabby appearance.^' I regret having to 

 express my dissent from the opinion of a naturalist who is 

 entitled to so much respect ; but it is plain that the irruption of 

 which I am writing is not a common case of " regular spring 

 migration," wherein the birds may be said to have an instinctive 

 knowledge whither they are travelling ; and until it is explained 

 to me by what means the individuals which on this occasion are 

 said to have brought up the rear became acquainted with the 

 course taken by the van, I cannot agree with Herr Gatke's 

 inference. I believe that gentleman to be fully justified in his 

 statement of what is the general rule in ordinary migrants ; but 

 every person who has indiscriminately collected birds must be 

 aware how often, at certain times and places, one sex of a species 

 largely predominates over the other; and I think it is safer to 

 follow the example set me by Mr. Osbert Salvin in a similar case 

 (' Ibis,' 1860, pp. 259, 260), and " not raise an hypothesis upon 

 the facts that I have up till now collected." I must, however, 

 remark that these facts, as may be gathered from the present 

 paper, do not entirely agree with Herr Gatke's observations in 

 Heligoland, as among the earliest recorded occurrences there is 

 a very fair proportion of female birds. 



35. Mandal, 7° 30' E. Two killed near this place in the 

 beginning of June. Mr. Percy Godman, in Hit., 21st August. 



