By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 171 



the Caucasus, wave after wave of those prolific adventurers poured 

 over Europe, until the Celts had penetrated her most western 

 boundaries, and occupied our island: so a vast horde of winged 

 strangers has suddenly swept down upon astonished Europe, and a 

 new nomadic race has penetrated to our shores from its distant 

 Eastern home. 



I have already said that several hundreds of this Sand-Grous 

 reached the limits of Great Britain, and that by far the larger part 

 of them appeared, as was to be expected with Asiatic migrants, in 

 the Eastern counties : some however, detached from the main body, 

 under the general persecution which, I regret to say, followed their 

 appearance amongst us, were dispersed all over England, and pene- 

 trated almost every county ; and one at all events reached Wiltshire, 

 and was killed on Salisbury Plain at Imber on the 29 th of June, 

 for the knowledge of which, as well as the occurrence of many 

 other rare birds in "Wiltshire I am indebted to the Rev. George 

 Powell, Rector of Sutton Veney, who most kindly and considerately 

 sends me from time to time an account of any rarity which comes 

 under his notice. Our Wiltshire specimen of the Sand-Grous was 

 a female, and was alone, and in rapid flight from north to south, 

 when it was shot by Mr. Joseph Dean of Imber, as I described in 

 the Zoologist at the time.^ 



Like other species of Sand Grous, S. paradoxus is remarkable for 

 its great length of wing, slender beak, shortness of foot, and con- 

 ical tail, the two middle feathers being elongated in a thread-like 

 manner : also for the feathering of the legs and feet to the extremity 

 of the toes with short dense feathers : the hind toe is completely 

 wanting. That it is not polygamous ; that both sexes share in the 

 the duties of incubation ; and that three eggs are the full comple- 

 ment of a nest, I gather from Mr. Newton's paper. And I may 

 add from my acquaintance with an allied species in Africa {S. exus- 

 tus), that so much do its colours resemble the sands of the desert it 

 frequents, that it is extremely difficult to see it on the ground; while 

 its sharp-pointed long wings, give it a rapidity of flight almost 



' Zoologist, p. 8888. 



n2 



