476 SAND-GROUSE. 



these, however, were merely the skirmishers of a larger army which 

 arrived in Galizia and Moravia on May 6th, and rolled westward 

 to the Atlantic; spreading southward as far as Rimini in Italy 

 and the Pyrenees, northward to the Faeroes and about lat. 62° in 

 Norway ; while a few eggs were taken among the sand-hills of 

 Denmark and Holland. In 1872 small flocks were observed in 

 Northumberland and Ayrshire ; in 1876 a pack was seen in May 

 near Winterton in Norfolk, and in October two birds were shot in 

 CO. Kildare, Ireland. In 1888, from February onwards, it was 

 noticed that another and larger horde was passing over Germany 

 and Poland; by ^May 15th it had reached the British Islands, and 

 from June of that year to February 18S9 'The Zoologist' and other 

 journals have been filled with records from all parts of the United 

 Kingdom. As in 1863, Sand-Grouse were especially plentiful along 

 the east side of Great Britain — and in Norfolk and Yorkshire their 

 eggs appear to have been taken ; but a novel feature was their 

 abundance in the Hebrides and other western localities of Scotland, 

 while in Ireland some even reached co. Mayo. On the Continent 

 this great visitation has reached Spain in the south and Norway in 

 the north, but for details we await a paper from Prof Newton, the 

 able historian of former irruptions. Many birds are still with us 

 [February 1889]. 



This species, also known as the ' Three-toed Sand-Grouse,' 

 inhabits the sandy steppes of Asia in summer from the eastern 

 shore of the Caspian Sea to Take Baikal, migrating in winter to 

 Mongolia and Northern China ; but on the high table-lands of 

 Thibet the representative is the larger 6". thibeiatiiis, its sole con- 

 gener. The eggs, usually 3 in number, are laid in April or May, in 

 a hollow scratched in the sandy soil ; they are elliptical in shape, 

 and stone-buff blotched with purple-brown in colour : average 

 measurements 1*5 by it in. The food consists of seeds of plants; 

 the flight is rapid, like that of the Golden Plover. 



The adult male may be briefly described as having the head dull 

 yellow ; upper parts warm buff, barred with black ; quills bluish 

 grey, as are the long and pointed central tail-feathers ; neck and 

 breast greyish-buff, crossed by a mottled black gorget ; belly banded 

 with black ; feathers of the vent and of the feet down to the toes 

 dull white. Length 15 in. ; wing 10 in. In the female the head 

 and sides of the neck, and the upper parts generally, are striped 

 and spotted with black, a band of the same colour crossing the 

 upper throat ; the general hue is duller, and the central tail-feathers 

 are shorter. 



