Pallas' s Sand- Grouse in 1863. 219 



appearance as follows : — '^ I, for my part, think of the drought in 

 Hungary, so forcibly represented to us in the newspapers this 

 summer, and conceive that a like condition of weather may have 

 laid all the freshwater lakes in their home quite dry, and 

 scoi'ched up all vegetation, which may have caused the business 

 of breeding, already begun, to be given over, and the old birds 

 this year to become the nomads of other times " (Journ. f. 

 Oru. 1863, p. 326). That such a reason might suflSce I fully 

 admit; but is it a recognized fact that a drought so severe 

 as to induce the effect we have to meet has really occurred 

 from Hungary to the further shores of the Caspian ? and if 

 it has, would it not bring about the expatriation of almost 

 every other kind of bird ? for I look upon it that Syrrhaptes 

 can and does maintain itself where most species would starve. 

 Yet, as Mr. T. J. Moore has well remarked (Intellectual Ob- 

 server, Oct. 1863, p. 205), with regard to the year of their 

 former apparition (1859), that it produced no other unusual 

 Eastern birds*, and I think the same (with the exception of 

 Anthropoides virgo) may be said of the past summer, while, on 

 the other hand, if Dr. Altum's suggestion be the right one, 

 surely we should have had many other natives of Tartary 

 turning up. 



Shall we then be far wrong in considering the proximate 

 cause of this wonderful movement to be the natural overflow of 

 the population of Srjrrhaptes, resulting from its ordinary in- 

 crease ? It must be borne in mind that it cannot have many 

 enemies in its own haunts. Radde, as I have mentioned, shows 

 how nimbly it escapes from the attacks of Falcons; indeed 

 the effects which most raptorial birds produce upon it as a 

 species must be beneficial in maintaining a vigorous race, for any 

 member of the flock assailed that is not in the highest condition 

 will assuredly fall a prey to the pursuer, and thus only the 



* Mr. Moore does, indeed, cite one instance of the occuiTence in England 

 that autumn of Otis tetrax; but when one considers that that is a species 

 which is very abundant in many parts of Europe, certain districts in 

 France among the rest, the probability is strongly against this example 

 being of oriental origin. It is, besides, a bird which occurs nearly every 

 year in this country. 



q2 



