52 
Mr. Frower said—The two birds which I have brought for 
your inspection this evening are two specimens, both females, of 
Pallas’s Sand Grouse (Syrrhaptes Paradoxus of Pallas) which 
have been kindly lent to me by my friend and neighbour Mr. W. N. 
Coates. They were killed in the afternoon (about 4.30 p.m.) on 
October 4th last, at Knockanilly, the estate of Mr. W. C. Coates, 
near Kileock, County Kildare, in Ireland, which is about twenty 
miles due west of Dublin, and they are the same two birds as are 
mentioned in The Field of October 21. The estate on which the 
birds were killed is described to the as being in a rather wild and open 
country, of rich land, thinly populated, and having very large grass 
fields. It stands high, and the particular field where these birds 
were killed commands a very extensive view on all sides. Mr, 
W. C. Coates and his uncle, Mr. W. N. Coates, were out partridge 
shooting when these birds were met with. They were found ina 
stubble field, and the dog who found them, a setter, at first could 
not make them out at all. He approached them wagging his tail, as 
setters always do when they are not sure of their game, but 
eventually set them. These two birds were the only ones seen, 
and when they rose Mr. W. C. Coates shot the one which has 
the long tail feathers, and his uncle the other. Mr. W. N. Coates 
showed me the bird which he killed on the morning of October 7th, 
and he afterwards sent it to Mr. Ashmead, of Bishopsgate-street, 
who has preserved it as you now see it. I saw this bird weighed 
before it was skinned. It was in very good condition, with a 
considerable quantity of fat about the intestines, and it weighed 
exactly 10} ozs., which is less than half the weight of a female red 
grouse. This weight is important, as it shows that the bird was in 
exceptionally good condition, and from this fact, it seems probable 
that it, and probably its companion, whose weight, unfortunately, 
was not taken, had been in the neighbourhood where they were 
found, undisturbed, for some little time, and had not just arrived 
after a long journey. Mr. Ashmead sent me the body of the 
bird which he stuffed, after he had skinned it, and I carefully 
dissected it. The state of the crop and gizzard proved clearly that 
the bird had not suffered from want of food: they were full of 
vegetable matter, consisting chiefly of the seeds of the common 
orache (Atriplex Patula) with a few seeds of a species of Polygonum, 
probably the copse buck wheat (/P. Dumetorum), both of which 
plants are common weeds all over the British Islands; but I could 
find no trace at all of insects*. I believe this agrees with the result 
* Since this paper was read, the contents of the crop and gizzard have been 
submitted to Dr. Hooker, and are now in the Museum of the Royal Gardens at Kew. 
Dr. Hooker is of opinion that the seeds are more probably those of the Atriplex hastuta 
and Polygonum maritime, both maritime plants. If so, these birds had probably been 
frequenting some part of the sea coast, and at the time when they were killed had gone 
inland to feed.—J. F, 
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