SAND-GROUSE. 37 



in a like manner. The third nest was similar to the first, 

 and was half-way up a sandhill. Of the three eggs sent to 

 Herr Bulow, he found that two were quite fresh, but in the 

 third the fetus had begun to form, shewing that they had 

 been taken from different nests. Some more nests were 

 found by other people, but unfortunately none of them were 

 taken care of. The gunner, at Herr Bulow' s request, made 

 further search, but not until the 27th of July did he suc- 

 ceed in making any new discoveries. On that day he met 

 with a flock of about a dozen birds, of which he shot two. 

 He then went again to Bierregaard, where at last he put a 

 bird off its nest among some stones in the sand, and con- 

 taining three eggs. Next day he returned to it, set a snare, 

 in which, after two or three hours, the hen-bird was caught ; 

 and a few hours later he procured the cock in the same way. 

 In the interval he found, to his surprise, that one of the 

 eggs had hatched. He took away with him the pair of old 

 birds, the newly-born chick, and the remaining two eggs, 

 which, on getting home, he put in a box of wool by the fire, 

 where a second egg was hatched. The third proved to be 

 rotten. The chicks only lived one day, and it seems they 

 were not preserved. On that same day (the 28th), while 

 waiting about for these birds to be caught, he stumbled on 

 another nest, from which he shot both the owners." 



Returning to the subject of migration : the Sand- grouse 

 visited Heligoland, where about thirty-five were shot in May 

 and June, and a few in autumn, when they also occurred at 

 Norderney ; Borkhum in May and June, and again on their 

 return, in September. The last recorded individual of this 

 invasion was obtained alive, having flown against the telegraph 

 wires in June 1864, near Plauen, in Saxony, and was sent to 

 the Zoological Gardens in Dresden.* Mr. Dresser states that 

 about twenty were said to have been seen in that year, and 

 three of them shot at Brody, Galicia ; but this record may 

 possibly refer to the occurrence in previous years already cited. 



As regards the numbers of this invasion, it is undoubted 

 that a very large proportion passed unrecorded, even in the 



* E. Opel, Journal fiir Ornithologie, 1864, p. 312. 



