} 
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: 
a 59 
Common Ring Dove (C. Pulumbus), which is also here, on the 
other, you will see that there is very little difference between the 
breasibones of the Sand Grouse and Ring Dove, while the difference 
between those of the Sand Grouse and the Red Grouse is immense. 
Mr. H. E. Dresser has kindly Jent me a proof of the number 
of his well-known work on the Birds of Europe, which contains 
Pallas Sand Grouse, and I have made free use of its contents. I 
find it stated in it that Falco Hendersoni is the only bird of prey 
which persecutes the Sand Grouse, and even this swift falcon cannot 
always capture them. An examination of the skeleton seems to 
bear this out, and to prove this species to be a bird of very rapid 
flight. The long wing feathers do not seem to hinder its speed, 
and, as they are moved very rapidly during its flight, they produce 
a noise like the fall of a shower of hail. 
If you will examine the breastbone of Pallas Sand Grouse you will 
_see that the depth of the keel, which gives attachment to the pectoral 
muscles, is very great compared with that of the Red Grouse. The length 
ofits breast bone is four inches ; that of the Sand Grouseis two anda 
half inches, and yet the depth of the keel is the same in both, 
namely, one inch, and the shape of this bone shews that the bird can 
not only fly very rapidly, but is capable of long flights, and of 
keeping on the wing for a considerable space of time. 
I have reserved for the last the most remarkable feature of 
_this interesting bird, viz., the structure of its feet, and this is so 
peculiar that the scientific name by which the bird is known is 
founded upon it. Mr. Flower then exhibited and described the feet 
of the Ptarmigan and Black Grouse, of the Swamp Hen of New 
Zealand, and the Avocet, all of which are specially adapted to 
enable the bird to walk over a soft yielding surface ; but none of 
them would have suited a bird like a Sand Grouse, whose natural 
home is a sandy plain, which affords a soft yielding surface, but that 
surface, hard and gritty, and often hot, aud, accordingly, this bird 
has been provided with a foot most beautifully adapted for its wants. 
Although the bird is as essentially a land bird as our common 
fowl, yet its little feet are webbed like those of a duck, which 
enables it to walk over the sand which it frequents without sinking 
in, and with ease and rapidity. 
I have now, I think, told you pretty well all that is known about 
these birds. They form a groupof exceptional interest, and behind 
their curious and eventful history, we cannot, I think, fail to discern 
the hand of that great power in nature which guides and sustains all 
living things. , 
