26 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family PTEEOCLID^E. Genus SYRRHAPTES. 



PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE. 



SYEEHAPTES PAEADOXUS (Pallas). 

 PLATE IV. 



Tetrao paradoxa, Pall. Eeis. Russ. Eeichs. ii. p. 712, pi. F. (1773). 



Syrrhaptes paradoxus (Pall.), Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 75, pi. 468 (1876); Yarrell, 

 Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 31 (1883); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 419 (1884); Lilford, 

 Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xvii. (1891) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. p. 351 (1893) ; 

 Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 2 (1893); Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 

 160, pi. 47 (1896); Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iv. p. 260 (1897). 



Geographical distribution. British: Pallas's Sand-Grouse, like the 

 Waxwing and other species of irregular migrations, appears in our islands at long 

 and uncertain intervals and in varying numbers. It was first noticed as a British 

 bird in 1859, one example each being obtained in Norfolk, Kent, and North Wales. 

 In 1863 it again occurred, when numbers found their way to almost every county 

 of Great Britain, and to the north-west of Ireland, to the Scilly Islands, the 

 Shetlands, and even to the Faroes. A further visitation was remarked in 1872, 

 a flock visiting Northumberland, and a smaller party the south of Scotland 

 (Ayrshire) ; whilst in 1876 the birds were observed at Winterton, in Norfolk, in 

 May, and in county Wicklow in October. In 1888 there was an invasion of 

 extraordinary proportions, the numbers visiting the British Islands being so great 

 that no exact estimate could be formed. So far as is known the first pioneer of 

 this irruption of Sand-Grouse was remarked on one of the Fame Islands, on the 

 6th of May, and within a few days almost every part of our area had been invaded. 

 Parties of half a dozen, and flocks of thirty or more individuals, were remarked in 

 districts most suited to their requirements. Nearly all these birds had apparently 

 paired, and in some cases attempts were made to nest. Two nests with eggs 

 were obtained in Yorkshire, and two young birds were caught on the Culbin Sands, 

 in Moray, one in 1888 and another the following year. Although some efforts 

 were made to protect these interesting visitors, all finally disappeared. In the 

 autumn of 1888 flocks of Sand-Grouse were still in existence, but by the following 

 spring most of the birds had been killed, although there is evidence to suggest 

 that survivors still existed in our islands until 1892. Foreign: Pallas's Sand- 

 Grouse is just as irregular and uncertain in its visits to continental Europe as to 

 our islands. The first recorded occurrence in Europe was in the winter of 1848, 

 when an example was obtained at Sarepta. In 1859 half a dozen birds were 



