NOTES AND QUERIES. 347 



carrying the latter if detached, I took the precaution of noting the colours, 

 dimensions [length 9 feet], teeth, and sex (female), and left the body undis- 

 turbed, with a view to returning at an early date to secure the skull. 

 From the state of the animal, and the situation where it was lying, I 

 concluded it had lain on the spot for nearly a fortnight, — that is, since the 

 last high tide, — and that it had been swept in from some part of the 

 Barnhourie Bank — a broad tract of sand only covered at high water, and 

 which extends out into the Solway for about six miles. I am tolerably 

 certain that the animal had been in the first instance left helpless on 

 Barnhourie at ebb tide, which here runs out with great rapidity, and that 

 since its death the body had scarcely been in the water at all. I was not 

 able to return for the skull for several weeks. In the interval the high tide 

 had shifted the beast further up the shore, knocking out a good many of the 

 teeth in transit, and the Gulls had also injured the extremities of the upper 

 jaws considerably. However, I took off the head, — by this time in a 

 decidedly unsavoury state, — brought it home, and, having cleaned it, 

 forwarded it some time afterwards to Professor Struthers of Aberdeen, for 

 proper identification. This being the first Dolphin I had seen in the flesh 

 I was unable to name it with certainty, but I felt pretty sure it was the 

 Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Delphinus tursio, and I have recently had a note 

 from Professor Struthers to say it is that species. When the late Mr. 

 E. R. Alston wrote his account of the " Mammalia of Scotland " for the 

 Natural History Society of Glasgow, in 1880, he was unable to cite more 

 than two Scottish specimens of Delphinus tursio, although he added, on the 

 authority of Dr. Murie, that herds of this species are occasionally seen off 

 our West coast. This Dolphin is an addition to the Solway list of Cetacea, 

 which hitherto has comprised only the Porpoise, Common Rorqual, Bottle- 

 nosed or Beaked Whale, Pilot or Ca'ing Whale, Grampus, and a somewhat 

 doubtful record of the Common Dolphin. — Robebt Service (Maxwelltown, 

 Dumfries). 



BIRDS. 



Pallas's Sand Grouse in Ireland. — The subjoined particulars respecting 

 the occurrence of Pallas's Sand Grouse in Ireland reached me from the 

 following sources. From Mr. Williams, Dame Street, Dublin : — " Two 

 female specimens were received from Mr. W. C. Burton (Carrigaholt Castle, 

 Co. Clare), on May 28th. They belonged to a good-sized flock which was 

 seen on the seashore near that gentleman's estate. Two female specimens 

 were shot on May 26th, on the property of Mr. David Sherlock (Rah an 

 Lodge, King's Co.). Three more were noticed on this occasion and several 

 times after, being protected, so that they might have an opportunity to 

 breed. On June 11th two female specimens were sent from Galway ; but, 

 having been kept too long, they were unfit for preservation. On June 16th 



