PALLAS’S SAND-GROUSE. 419 
SYRRHAPTES PARADOXUS. 
PALLAS’S SAND-GROUSE. 
(Pxate 20.) 
Tetrao paradoxa, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs. ii. App. p. 712, tab. F (1773) ; et aucto- 
rum plurimorum—Gi'melin, (Iadde), ( Temminck), (Dresser), (Saunders), &e. 
Syrrhaptes paradoxus (Padl.), Illiger, Prodr. p. 243 (1811). 
Syrrhaptes pallasii, Temm. Pig. et Gallin. iii. p. 282 (1815). 
Heteroclitus tartaricus, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 453 (1817). 
Syrrhaptes heteroclita, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pt. iii. p. 64 (1834), 
The first authentic occurrence of this Asiatic bird in Europe was recorded 
by Moeschler in 1853 (Naumannia, ili. p. 805), who describes it as very 
rare in the neighbourhood of Sarepta, the well-known Moravian settlement 
on the Volga, between the Kirghiz and Kalmuck steppes. In 1859 examples 
occurred at Wilna in Poland, near Hobro in Jutland, near Zandvoort in 
Holland, at Walpole St. Peters in Norfolk, New Romney in Kent, and near 
Tremadoc in North Wales (Newton, Ibis, 1864, p. 186). It is not known 
that this bird again visited Europe until 1863, when many hundreds, if not 
thousands, appeared. They seem to have wintered, as they often do, in the 
Kirghiz steppes ; and from some cause or other they travelled due west, 
instead of east, and, passing through North Italy, the valley of the Danube, 
and Poland, found their way to the Pyrenees, various parts of France and 
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, South Sweden and Norway, and 
even Archangel. A large number passed Heligoland and arrived on almost 
every part of the eastern coasts of the British Islands, whence they spread 
inland to almost every county of Great Britain, a few reaching the Scilly 
Islands, North-west Ireland, the Shetlands, and the Faroes. They attempted 
to breed in many places, and several clutches of their eggs were obtained, 
especially on the sandy coasts of Denmark and Holland; but, as might be 
expected, they were soon exterminated by sportsmen, gamekeepers, and col- 
lectors of rare birds. Since that date the recorded occurrences of this bird 
have been few and far between. In 1872 a flock was observed in Northum- 
berland early in June, and late in that month it is said that four birds were 
seen in the south of Scotland; but the only important occurrence in Europe 
was that observed by Henke (Ibis, 1882, p. 220). In 1876 great numbers 
bred on the Kirghiz steppes; and on the 4th of May in the same year an 
example was obtained at Modena, in Italy (Giglioli, Ibis, 1881, p. 206). 
The true home of Pallas’s Sand-Grouse is in the centre of Asia. It 
breeds on the steppes of North-east Turkestan, Mongolia, and Dauria. In 
Mongolia it is a partial resident; hut the birds breeding in North-east 
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