PALLAS'S SAND-GEOITSE. 393 



Mr. Southwell, of Fakenliain, informed me at tlie time 

 tliat *^a vagrue rumour" was current in his neio'hbour- 

 hood early in September, that a nest had been found 

 somewhere near Lynn; but adds, "I cannot discover 

 the slightest foundation for the report," and my own 

 enquiries failed to elicit anything satisfactory on this 

 point. 



November? — There is little doubt, I think, that these 

 birds were not seen in either Norfolk or Suffolk after 

 the middle of Novenfber, the following being the latest 

 notices of their appearance, in either county, that I 

 could authenticate either at the time or subsequently. 

 Mr. Dodman, of Titchwell, near Lynn, informed Mr. 

 Southwell that one was procured about the last week or 

 end of November, and in a subsequent letter says, 

 " From what I could learn it was a male bird. It was 



eggs, one of the latter having been laid in the box which conveyed 

 the birds. " On two of the nests both the birds (in each case the 

 hens first and then the cocks) were caught on the 6th of June. 

 These nests were near one another; and one, containing three 

 eggs, consisted of a sUght depression in the sand, lined with a 

 little dry marram. The other had only two eggs, was placed 

 among some ling, and furnished in a like manner. The thu-d nest 

 was similar to the first, and was half-way up a sand-hill." More 

 nests were found at that time, but were unfortunately not pre- 

 served ; but, on the 27th of July, the same person who had taken 

 the first eggs, discovered at Bierregaard, in the same locality, "a 

 nest among some stones in the sand, and containing three eggs." 

 Snares were set, and both old birds taken; and in this interval, 

 one of the eggs was found to have been hatched. The other two 

 eggs being placed in wool near a fire a second chick was hatched, 

 but the third egg proved rotten. The young hved but one day, 

 and were not preserved. Another nest was also found the same 

 day (July 28th), and the two old birds obtained. From these 

 facts, it appears that Sijrrhaptes is not polygamous, both sexes 

 sharing the duties of incubation, and that the normal number of 

 eggs is three. Whether these birds are " double brooded" seems 

 somewhat doubtful. 

 3e 



