BIRDS. 153 



Sand Grouse. This singular Asiatic bird, has, on several 

 SyrrhapUs paradoxtts. occasions, visited Britain in numbers, 

 and a few even nested in England. 

 The only records for Shropshire are : two killed out of 

 a large flock near Oswestry, and a flock of twenty seen 

 near Ludlow, in 1863 ; one killed against telegraph wires 

 near Craven Arms, and several others shot in the 

 neighbourhood of the Clee Hills, in 1888. 



BLACK GROUSE B. (Blackcock, male, and Greyhen, 

 Tctrao tetrix. female). Numerous in the southern, 



but rare in the northern parts of the 

 County. The lyre-shaped arrangement of the tail- 

 feathers in the cock is very remarkable. It breeds in 

 the parts where it occurs, and hybrids between the Black- 

 cock and Pheasant have occurred several times. Black 

 Game seem to have been much more numerous here fifty 

 years ago than they are at present, and, though it is 

 hard to give any reason for it, they are gradually 

 decreasing in numbers. Black Game prefer wooded 

 hills, while Red Grouse only flourish on heathery moors. 



RED GROUSE B. Remarkable amongst Birds as being 

 Lagopus Scoticus. the only species which is confined to 



the British Isles, though there are 

 closely allied species on the continent. The result of 

 careful enquiries in the County proves almost conclusively 

 that there were few, if any, Red Grouse in Shropshire 

 before 1840. About that year Mr. William Pinches and 

 Mr. Buddicom imported two pairs from Yorkshire, and 

 turned them out on the hills above Church Stretton 

 (see page 27). The birds increased gradually, though it 

 was several years before any number were shot. At the 



