THE IBIS 



No. VI. APRIL 1860. 



XI. — On the Addition to tlie British Fauna of Pallas's Three- 

 toed Sand-Grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus). By Thomas John 

 Moore, Keeper of the Free Pubhc and Derby Museum, 

 Liverpool *. 



(Plate IV.) 



The acquisition of a species new to the British Avi-Fauna is 

 always an interesting event. In the present instance that inter- 

 est is considerably increased by several important considerations. 

 The species named at the head of this paper is not only new 

 to Britain, but also, I believe, to Europe ; for, though more than 

 once inserted by Prince Bonaparte in his Lists of European 

 Birds, no instance to warrant its insertion has yet been put on 

 record. The family to which it belongs, being especially adapted 

 to inhabit dry and arid plains, has no representative in Britain, 

 although two species occur on the Continent {Pterocles alchata and 

 Pt. arenarius). The genus consisted of the single species in- 

 habiting the steppes of Tartary, made known by Pallas three- 

 quarters of a century since, until in 1850 Mr. Gould figured and 

 described a second, obtained by Lord GifFord on the banks of 

 the Tsumureri Lake in the country of Ladakh, under the name 

 of Syrrhaptes tibetanus. Of the latter only a single specimen 

 was shot by Lord GifFord; but other examples have since been 

 collected by Captain Speke, and it has also been observed by 



* Communicated by Mr. Moore to the late Meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation at Aberdeen, and read to Section D. 



VOL. II. I 



