406 Mr. J. A. Bucknill on the 



which, after a careful comparison with others at the South 

 Kensington Museum, I am quite satisfied are those of this 

 species. Horsbrugh identified one male and two females taken 

 in the island, and kept in captivity by Mr. T. Greenwood, as 

 P. arenarius. I gather from Mr. G. F. Wilson that this 

 is the species generally met with, that it is partially resident 

 throughout the year, and that the numbers of the resident 

 Sand-Grouse appear to be augmented considerably by 

 migrants in autumn and probably in spring. A flock of 

 some twenty or more individuals frequented at evening a 

 lake about five miles from Nicosia, and on November the 26th, 



1909, Mr. G. F. Wilson shot a fine female which was scut lo 

 me for identification. Mr. Baxendale on January the 20th, 



1910, obtained three live specimens — two hens and a cock — 

 from the Mukhtar of Vatili, a village between Nicosia and 

 Famagusta ; they were quite tame and had been taken by him 

 as young chicks and fed and reared with his poultry. He 

 added that the bird breeds annually near his village in small 

 numbers and lays two eggs. 



906. Pterocles alchata (Linn.). 



Sibthorp in his Journal writes, " May 3rd (1787) near 

 Hagios Georghioos . . . (on the flats between Laruaca and 

 Famagusta) our chasseur shot a very rare bird of the Tetrao 

 kind, T. alchata, called by the greeks ' TraphaXos' ; this is 

 a bird of passage visiting the island in the spring and retir- 

 ing in the autumn ". 



To the above I can add nothing at present of any value 

 except that Mr. G. F. W r ilson identifies one of the three 

 species which he distinguishes when shooting as the Pin- 

 tailed Sand-Grouse. 



908. Pterocles exustus (Temm.). 



The Singed Sand-Grouse is perhaps the third species 

 believed to visit or occur in the island. I have as yet no 

 definite record of its having been obtained, but Cobham in 

 his c Hand-book of Cyprus ' 1907, states that this is probably 

 one of the species which is found in the island. 



