381 



the sole of which, is thickly covered with strong horny 

 papillae; they are terminated by equally strong, broad, 

 and flattened nails." Another and very marked feature 

 also consists in the first primary of each wing termin- 

 ating in a long filament like the two central tail-feathers 

 of other sand-grouse. The present appears also, on the 

 same authority, to have formed the only known species 

 of the genus Syrrhaptes "until, in 1850, Mr. Gould 

 figured and described a second, obtained by Lord Gifford 

 on the banks of the Tsumureri Lake, in the country of 

 Ladakh, under the name of Syrrhaptes tibetanus." 



Thus much, then, as to the general history of this 

 remarkable species, whilst the subjoined list contains all 

 the particulars I have been able to collect, with reference 

 to its occurrence in 1863, in the counties of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk. Many of my readers will probably remember 

 that a large proportion of these local statistics . were 

 published at the time in the "Zoologist,"* (pp. 8708- 

 8718, 8849-8852, and 8957), when, through the kind 

 assistance of various ornithological friends, I obtained 

 such an amount of information as it would have been 

 impossible to procure, even a few months later, after the 

 novelty of the occurrence had somewhat abated. Of the 

 completeness of the facts thus supplied me in the first 

 instance, I have the best possible evidence in the very 

 few specimens that have since come under my notice, 

 as omitted from the original list; and though Norfolk 

 and Suffolk are unenviably notorious for the wholesale 

 destruction of these beautiful wanderers, yet a glance 

 at the localities on Mr. Newton's " Sketch Map" will 

 at least show that in no other portion of the United 

 Kingdom, were the records respecting them so fully 

 preserved. I have no doubt that the birds which 



* They were also subsequently embodied by Mr. Newton in his 

 geographical series, " Ibis," 1864. 



