Pallas' s Sand-Grouse. 257 



covered pad with three black claws. This curious 

 construction, coupled with the shortness of its 

 legs, renders the bird anything but an elegant 

 walker. 



As in the true grouse the flesh of the breast 

 is of two colours, white near the bone and dark 

 in the outer part. The sand-grouse is very strong 

 on the wing, and its flight is very rapid, and 

 much resembles that of the golden plover, but 

 is noisy, and can be heard at a considerable dis- 

 tance. Not very much is known of its nesting ; 

 it lays three or four eggs, certainly not less than 

 three. The young when hatched are covered 

 with down, and are able to shift for themselves. 



The sand-grouse have now been among us for 

 four months, and, though we are grieved to 

 observe from the reports that have appeared 

 from time to time in the columns of our con- 

 temporaries that many of these rare and harm- 

 less birds have, as in 1863, fallen victims to 

 what we can only characterise as the foolish love 

 of slaughter possessed by self -termed " sports- 

 men " and " collectors of British birds," still, 

 thanks to the fostering care of many landowners 

 and their gamekeepers, and to the more intel- 

 ligent interest that has been taken in them 

 throughout the country, a considerable number 

 have remained practically undisturbed. This 

 being the case, it is perhaps extraordinary that 

 we have no absolutely trustworthy reports of 

 their having nested and bred. Mr. Hewlett, of 



