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It is probably a bird intended by nature to take very long flights 

 over huge tracts of desolate sandy and barren country to procure 

 food, and it seems scarcely likely that the present enclosed state 

 of this country could suit it ; however, from the quantity seen, 

 and the extent of the country where they have been, there must 

 have been many flocks which have not been met with or disturbed 

 at all, and it will be fair to see whether any do remain. Their 

 disappearance will probably be as unexpected as their appear- 

 ance ; it seems very doubtful whether any of these (I call them 

 lost) birds will ever reach their native country again. If no birds 

 were to be shot we would probably have remained in ignorance 

 of the interesting appearance amongst us of these strangers. 

 Fortunately, birds are not easily driven from ground they have 

 a liking to. It is a difficult matter to drive Partridges from a 

 particular field ; they become wilder by being disturbed and re- 

 peatedly shot at, but they are not easily made to forsake the field 

 entirely, except perhaps by removing the crop on which they 

 either feed or amongst which they find shelter. C. M. A. 



(Reprinted from " The Field" Newspaper far August 8th, 1863. 



SIR, I hope the severe remarks relating to the killing of Sand 

 Grouse will not deter your correspondents from giving further 

 accounts about them ; and I hope that any communications you 

 may get about their moulting, nesting, or departure will be such 

 as may be relied on. We have as yet heard little which leads 

 us to believe that they came here for the purpose of breeding. 

 No one has told us that they had paired, and the pair had sepa- 

 rated from the flocks; should they not be discovered breeding 

 here, the fact of the number having been shot cannot reasonably 

 be given as the cause of their not having done so, as there must 

 have been numbers of flocks unobserved and undisturbed; but 

 supposing every flock had been seen, and that one half of the 

 number in each flock had been killed, that would not have pre- 

 vented the remainder from breeding if they had come here for 

 such purpose. Birds cannot tell each other that they will all 



