18 



after the birds arc hatched, it is not possible to distinguish the 

 age of a bird of this tribe by its plumage. At or previous to 

 that time the bird loses all trace of its first feathers, and the 

 change afterwards is regular from winter to summer ; and sur- 

 prising in some species are those changes. No two things in 

 nature are exactly alike ; doubtless every intermediate state be- 

 tween the extremes, both in weight and colour, are to be found. 

 I have an accidental variety ; more than throe-quarters of the 

 bird are as white ns a Ptarmigan in winter. C. M. A. (Newoastle- 

 on-Tyne.) 



ON THE APPEARANCE OF THE SAND GROUSE IN 

 ENGLAND. 



(Reprinted from " The Field" Newspaper, June 20*//, 1863. 



EVERY one, whether fond of Natural History or merely of shoot- 

 ing, who has read the notices of these birds having been shot 

 and seen at the various localities in England, must be astonished 

 at their having visited us. When we consider the part of the 

 world ordinarily inhabited by them, their appearance here is 

 really surprising, and it makes one desirous if possible to try to 

 account for it ; had it been the European Sand Grouse, and its 

 progress towards us had been gradual, coming nearer to us year 

 by year, we might have expected that it would ultimately have; 

 acclimatised itself, or at any rate have paid us occasional visits ; 

 but the immense space between the countries inhabited by the 

 present bird and our island, seems to render its either remaining 

 with us or visiting us again, perhaps for very many years, un- 

 certain and even improbable. The only supposition we can ar- 

 rive at is, that some flight or flights (probably daring a regular 

 migration) have been by some accidental cause utterly lost, and 

 have by mere chance reached our Island. Though it is called a 

 Grouse, it is very dissimilar to any bird of that tribe we have ; 

 the formation of the wing is unlike that of any of our species, 

 the secondaries are short and the primaries rapidly increase in 

 length, showing that it will have a dili'oivnt flight from them. 



