PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE. 419 



SYRRHAPTES PARADOXUS. 

 PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE. 



(PLATE 20.) 



Tetrao paradoxa, Pall. Reise Buss. Reichs. ii. App. p. 712, tab. F (1773) ; et aucto- 

 rum plurimorum Gmelin, (Radde), (Temminck), (Dresser), (Saunders), &c. 

 Syrrhaptes paradoxus (Pall.), Illiger, Prodr. p. 243 (1811). 

 Syrrhaptes pallasii, Temm. Pig. et Gattin. iii. p. 282 (1815). 

 Heteroclitus tartaricus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 453 (1817). 

 Syrrhaptes heteroclita, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pt. iii. p. 64 (1834). 



The first authentic occurrence of this Asiatic bird in Europe was recorded 

 by Moeschler in 1853 (Naumannia, iii. p. 305), who describes it as very 

 rare in the neighbourhood of Sarepta, the well-known Moravian settlement 

 on the Volga, between the Kirghiz and Kalmuck steppes. In 1859 examples 

 occurred at Wilna in Poland, near Hobro in Jutland, near Zandvoort in 

 Holland, at Walpole St. Peters in Norfolk, New Romney in Kent, and near 

 Tremadoc in North Wales (Newton, Ibis, 1864, p. 186). It is not known 

 that this bird again visited Europe until 1863, when many hundreds, if not 

 thousands, appeared. They seem to have wintered, as they often do, in the 

 Kirghiz steppes ; and from some cause or other they travelled due west, 

 instead of east, and, passing through North Italy, the valley of the Danube, 

 and Poland, found their way to the Pyrenees, various parts of France and 

 Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, South Sweden and Norway, and 

 even Archangel. A large number passed Heligoland and arrived on almost 

 every part of the eastern coasts of the British Islands, whence they spread 

 inland to almost every county of Great Britain, a few reaching the Scilly 

 Islands, North-west Ireland, the Shetlancls, and the Faroes. They attempted 

 to breed in many places, and several clutches of their eggs were obtained, 

 especially on the sandy coasts of Denmark and Holland ; but, as might be 

 expected, they were soon exterminated by sportsmen, gamekeepers, and col- 

 lectors of rare birds. Since that date the recorded occurrences of this bird 

 have been few and far between. In 1872 a flock was observed in Northum- 

 berland early in June, and late in that month it is said that four birds were 

 seen in the south of Scotland ; but the only important occurrence in Europe 

 was that observed by Henke (Ibis, 1882, p. 220). In 1876 great numbers 

 bred on the Kirghiz steppes ; and on the 4th of May in the same year an 

 example was obtained at Modcna, in Italy (Giglioli, Ibis, 1881, p. 206). 



The true home of Pallas's Sand-Grouse is in the centre of Asia. It 

 breeds on the steppes of North-east Turkestan, Mongolia, and Dauria. In 

 Mongolia it is a partial resident ; but the birds breeding in North-east 



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