442 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



N.OTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF PALLAS'S 

 SAND GROUSE IN NORFOLK. 



By T. Southwell, F.Z.S., 

 Member of the British Ornithologists' Union. 



So much has been written of late on Syrrhaptes paradoxus, 

 that I need not repeat what must be well known to readers of 

 1 The Zoologist,' but will at once enter upon as complete a 

 history of the recent "invasion" of this species in the county of 

 Norfolk as personal observation, and the ample material which 

 numerous correspondents in all parts of the county have kindly 

 placed at my disposal, will enable me to do. At the outset I can 

 but express my deep regret that the death of the able historian 

 of the invasion of 1863 has caused the task which he would 

 naturally have executed to fall on me ; but I may mention that 

 I have not been altogether without the late Mr. Stevenson's help, 

 and that one of the last ornithological notes he made was on the 

 moulting of this species. Happily the present record is not so 

 entirely in the form of a list of killed and wounded as on the 

 former occasion ; but this fact greatly increases the difficulty of 

 my task, for in a record of birds seen, — more especially with 

 regard to a species so restless and so erratic in its movements 

 as the present, — it is difficult to avoid chronicling the same flock 

 more than once ; this I have tried to do, but I fear, as explained 

 further on, not always successfully. There is one feature of 

 the present visitation which I feel satisfaction in recording: 

 upon the attention of the great landowners and occupiers, and 

 the renters of shootings, being called to the fact that upon their 

 arrival many birds were killed, strict orders were very generally 

 given that they should not be molested ; and, although perhaps 

 too late to enable them to settle to breed, the result has been 

 that in some parts of the county large flocks long continued to 

 frequent the same localities, and even now have not deserted the 

 spots which they selected. 



An interesting fact, hitherto I believe unrecorded, and quite 

 unknown to most ornithologists, has come to light in the course 

 of the investigation of the latest irruption. On or about the 

 21st May, 1876, as Mr. E. J. Boult, now of Potter Heigham, 

 informs me, he saw fifteen or twenty Sand Grouse, which rose 

 from the south sand-hills at Winterton; they were very wild, 



