SAND-GROUSE 31 



often mistaken for grey or golden plover, but when 

 shot and handled, the sharp-pointed wings and tail 

 and ochreous-sandy general colouring, tinted under- 

 neath with reddish-orange, easily distinguished them. 

 In several localities pairs of these sand -grouse bred ; 

 but, I believe, no survivals of these interesting visit- 

 ants are now to be found in England. Many hundreds 

 were observed pressing in their strange migration 

 westward, far beyond the coast of Ireland ; there can 

 be little doubt that most if not all of these wanderers 

 perished in the Atlantic. As Pallas's sand-grouse, 

 when in this country, was neither included among 

 the game birds, nor sheltered by the Wild Birds' 

 Protection Act, it fell a ready victim in all parts 

 of the kingdom to the curious, the greedy, and 

 the murderous gunner. Large numbers were shot 

 as specimens and preserved. It seems, indeed, that 

 nothing can save the rarer birds which in decreasing 

 numbers make their homes in or migrate periodically 

 to Britain. They are ruthlessly slaughtered to deck 

 the hall of the town- or country-house, or to swell the 

 collections of so-called naturalists. Bitterns, marsh- 

 harriers, ruffs and reeves, bustards, crossbills, and 

 other rare birds have small chance, now-a-days, of 

 perpetuating their species in those islands. During 

 its last great European migration (1888-89), Pallas's 

 sand-grouse was observed as far north as the neigh- 

 bourhood of Trondhjem, Norway. 



