Letters, Announcements, ^c. 335 



bird was examined by the Rev. C. Thorp, but he did uot ascer- 

 tain the exact particulars of its capture. 



I am yours &c., 



H. B. Tristram. 



Greatham Vicarage, West Hartlepool, 

 July 8th, 1872, 



Sir, — As every thing relating to the reappearance in Great 

 Britain of Pallas's Sand-Grouse may be said to possess unusual 

 interest, I beg leave to send you the following note from a lady 

 whose pursuits are in many respects closely associated with my 

 own, and who has had the pleasure of seeing at least four spe- 

 cimens of that remarkable bird alive in Ayrshire : — " Girvau, 

 July 2. On Tuesday last (25th June), while walking on the 

 sandy pathway leading to the north shore, I saw a strange bird 

 basking on the hot sand a few yards before me. It got up 

 almost immediately on being disturbed, and after a few hurried 



steps it darted swiftly over an adjoining wall. A , who was 



with me, at once noticed its long pointed wings ; and as we 

 were both satisfied that the bird was a stranger, we hastened 

 through the stile near at hand to see what had become of it. 

 To my great surprise and delight I found it had joined three 

 other birds of the same kind on the other side, and that they 

 were Sand-Grouse. The four, after quietly crouching among 

 the tufts of grass, seeing themselves watched, ran wildly about 

 for a few minutes, and then by short flights led us both some 

 distance after them until I had quite time enough to observe 

 their appearance and plumage accurately. We have no doubt 

 as to our recognition of the birds, having repeatedly got so near 

 them. They looked scared and restless when followed, and had 

 evidently arrived but a short time before, as we had never pre- 

 viously seen them, though we walked almost daily in the same 

 direction. A few days afterwards, namely on Saturday the 

 29th, we saw another (perhaps one of the four) in the same 

 place ; but it flew off at once and gave us no opportunity of 

 watching its movements. — E. G." 



I may add that the locality where these birds were seen, 

 though somewhat exposed as a place of public resort, is one 



