3G0 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



A coloured lithograph of the hird (copied from Dresser's 

 ' Birds of Europe ') conveys a good idea of its appearance to 

 those who have never seen a specimen, although for our own 

 part we prefer the coloured plate by Wolf in the first volume of 

 Stevenson's ' Birds of Norfolk.' 



The woodcut of the sternum, or breast-bone, figured on 

 p. 16, is obviously borrowed from ■ Yarrell,' and represents, 

 oddly enough, a preparation of our own, made five-and-twenty 

 years ago, when a living Sand Grouse, which had been deposited 

 in the Zoological Society's Gardens, subsequently died there, and 

 was forwarded to us. 



Of the other woodcuts given (p. 15), one shows the upper and 

 under surface of the foot, with its feathered tarsus, and below it 

 is figured an egg, supposed to be of the natural size and shape, 

 but which to our eyes does not by any means convey a good 

 impression of its real appearance. The fact is, that the delicate 

 texture and soft markings of birds' eggs cannot be properly 

 represented by wood engraving, the outlines being invariably too 

 hard, and the edges of the markings too unsubdued. 



We might point out several typographical and other slips 

 here and there, such as "furculam" for "furcula" (p. 1G), 

 " Navan " for " Naran " (p. 18), and the misapprehension (p. 14) 

 that the specific name x>aradoxus was bestowed by Illiger. But 

 these, doubtless, may have already caught the author's eye, 

 and have been noted for correction should another edition be 

 called for. 



In the " Bibliography " given on the last page, we think 

 Mr. Tegetmeier might well have included ' The Zoologist ' for 

 1863 and 1864, since the volumes for these years not only 

 contain a mass of correspondence on the subject of Pallas's 

 Sand Grouse in the British Islands, but furnished the materials 

 from which some of the subsequently published accounts quoted 

 by Mr. Tegetmeier were compiled. But apart from this, his 

 pamphlet will undoubtedly serve a useful purpose in dissemi- 

 nating information about a bird still comparatively little known 

 to people in this country, and in encouraging the protection of 

 a species which may prove to be of value from the sportsman's 

 as well as the naturalist's point of view. 



