266 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
On that day week I visited the nest again, on which the hen bird sat until 
I nearly touched her, and both cock and hen then flew round me while I 
was taking the eggs. These are as I described them, all of them very 
similar; the shells smooth and well formed, and do not show any signs of 
the bird being in bad health when she laid them. In the last (fourth) 
edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds’ the ordinary yellow variety is the only 
one mentioned.—K. W. H. Biaae (Cheadle, Staffordshire). 
Sand Grouse in Yorkshire.—Four Sand Grouse were seen in a corn- 
field on the edge of Manshead Moor, five miles S.E. of Todmorden, about 
the middle of June, 1888, and all the birds (two males and two females) 
were shot by a man named Stocks. The place where the birds were killed 
is about 900 feet above sea-level. The Sand Grouse seen by James 
Sutcliffe (misspelt Stancliffe in Zool. 1389, p. 2) was on the open moor, 
1200 feet above sea-level, the greatest elevation I have seen recorded for 
Sand Grouse in this country.—Rosr. J. Howarp (Fern Bank, Blackburn). 
[The wanton destruction of two pairs of these birds in the nesting 
season is really too bad, and it is to be hoped that the “ Act for the better 
protection of the Sand Grouse ” will be enforced, and that the shooter may 
be made to pay the full penalty, £4 and costs.—Ep.] 
The Sand Grouse in Mecklenburg (Germany).—In the ‘ Archiv des 
Vereins der Freunde der Naturgeschichte in Mecklenburg,’ 1888, Herr C. 
Struck, of Waren, has a paper (pp. 175—184), ‘“‘ Ueber Steppen oder Faust- 
hithner (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) in Mecklenburg,” in which, after referring 
to the earlier appearance of the bird in 1859, 1862, and 1863, he traces its 
occurrence at several localities in the Duchy of Mecklenburg between the 
dates 18th April and 6th August, 1888. 
Loxia curvirostra, var. rubrifasciata (Bonap. & Schl.), in Ireland.— 
Among other Crossbills sent to me for preservation, obtained at Edenderry, 
King’s Co., in March, was a bird remarkable for two pale reddish bars 
across the wings. This I forwarded to Prof. Newton, who very kindly sent 
me the following information, which I quote from his letter :—* I cannot 
remember having ever seen a Crossbill similar to the one sent; but in the 
wing-markings it essentially resembles the figure of the male given in pl. 5 
of Bonaparte and Schlegel’s ‘ Monographie des Loxiens,’ under the name of 
“ Loaia curvirostra rubrifasciata,” though it does not so well agree with 
their description, which states that the adult male of this form has the 
wing-coverts tipped with reddish (rougedtre), whereas in your specimen, as 
well as in the figure (at least in my copy) the tips are buff. Nevertheless 
I have little doubt your bird belongs to this form, in which the colour of 
the tips seems to vary from bright to dull red, and hence may occasionally 
be also buff. I cannot regard it as a distinct species, as has been done 
by C. L. Brehm, who named it (‘ Naumannia,’ 1853, p. 194) Crucirostra 
