190 BIRDS. 



On June 22d Buckley saw a flock of some eight or ten 

 individuals on N. Eonaldsay, flying about north-east, and a 

 man whom he met on the island told him that a flock of about 

 twenty-four had been seen there some five or six weeks back, 

 but that they had left since then. 



In answer to our inquiries whether these birds have been 

 seen in Orkney since we left in July 1888, Mr. Eanken says the 

 only instance that he could call authentic occurred on August 8th, 

 when Mr. F. Smith Peace, driving through Rendall with an 

 Oxford Professor, saw a flock of from fifteen to twenty flying 

 towards them ; these, when quite close to them, wheeled sud- 

 denly round and went back in the direction they came from. 

 These gentlemen had no difficulty in recognising the strangers. 

 Other people told Mr. Eanken of Sand Grouse having been 

 seen in Sanday and N. Ronaldsay, about fourteen to fifteen in 

 each place, but no dates or particulars could be given : under 

 these circumstances it is quite likely that some of these notices 

 refer to those birds already mentioned. 



Mr. Ranken was also told that these birds had bred in 

 Orkney, and one nest of three eggs obtained, but he could not 

 accept such a statement without proof. 1 



On Sept. 17th Mr. Irvine-Fortescue wrote us that he saw 

 the skin of a Sand Grouse the day before in the shop of Mr. 

 Williamson, watchmaker, Kirkwall, that had been picked up 

 dead in Shapinsay " some time ago." 



In another letter from Mr. Ranken, dated Sept. 21st, that 

 gentleman says he had heard the night before from Mr. E. E. 

 Peter that he shot two Sand Grouse out of a flock of some 

 eight or ten near Eapness, Westray, that rose out of some long 

 heather. Mr. Eanken saw the wing of one of these birds. He 

 further adds : "I have met Mr. Allan, Scapa, to-day, who tells 

 me the bird he caught (in May) is still living in a cage and is 

 quite tame, and became so a few days after its capture, eating 

 hemp seed, boiled potatoes, and meal, and such like. This 

 Sand Grouse has been fully four months in solitary confinement. 

 It gives a kind of ' clucking ' cry at times." 



In the Orkney Herald of Oct. 17th, 1888, it is reported that 

 1 We have received no confirmation of this. 



