138 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



have been, in truth, a profitable stock on the ground. 

 They have been subsisting on weeds* and insects 

 injurious to cultivation, and upon other substances 

 not useful to man, and in return they furnish him 

 with an article of wholesome and delicate food." 

 This opinion is strengthened by the remarks of 

 Mr. St. John, who says t that most, if not all, grami- 

 nivorous birds amply repay the farmer for their food 

 by the quantity of weeds they destroy during a great 

 part of the year. 



Pheasants are fond of acorns, beans, beech-mast, 

 haws, and blackberries. Buckwheat appears to be 

 specially attractive to them, and many small land- 

 owners, by sowing a little of this, profit by their 

 proximity to game-preserves, and bag an occasional 

 brace or two of birds. On examining the crop of 

 a pied Pheasant, shot in October, 1864, I was sur- 

 prised to find in it a common slow-worm (Anguis 

 fragilis) which measured eight inches in length. It 

 was not quite perfect, having lost the tip of the tail, 

 otherwise, if whole, it would probably have mea- 

 sured nine inches. 



Family TETRAONID^E. 

 PALLAS' SAND GROUSE, Syrrhaptes paradoxus. 



* Tuberous roots of the Silver weed (Potentilla anserina) 

 recognized. 



f ' Tour in Sutherlandshire,' vol. ii., p. 218. 



