212 THE BIRDS OF COENWALL. 



Rock Dove ; formerly considered a casual visitor to tlie 

 cliffs of our south coast, but for several years now has bred 

 annually on the cliffs east of Portscatho and has nested at least 

 twice during the last six years at Killigerran Head ; not known 

 in SciUy ; breeds sparingly and very locally along the Welsh 

 coast, abundantly in Scotland, Ireland and the Faeroes. 



Turtle DoYe ; a summer visitor, sometimes in fair-sized 

 flocks, but not common ; no record of its breeding in the county ; 

 at Scilly an occasional winter and spring visitor ; nests abun- 

 dantly in the eastern counties and midlands. 



Pallas' S Sand -Grouse ; an accidental visitor from the vast 

 sandy steppes of central Asia that in 1863 and again in 1888 

 made an extraordinary erruption into western Europe. In 1863 

 two specimens were obtained, one near the Land's End, the other 

 in Scilly, and in 1888 a flock of eleven appeared in the Land's 

 End district of which three were killed and one captured alive ; 

 in 1889 one killed near St. Just in Penwith. 



Black Grouse ; almost extinct as a resident, a careful search 

 on the Bodmin Moors in the spring of 1900 giving only two nests 

 as the result ; much commoner in Devon ; a native of central and 

 northern Europe. Hybrids have been obtained near Jamaica lun 

 between this bird and the pheasant ; one such hybrid shot at Tre- 

 bartha in the autumn of 1900. 



Pheasant ; introduced, semi- domesticated and generally 

 preserved; probably brought into Europe many centuries B.C., 

 traditionally from the banks of the Colchian Phasis, now the 

 Eiou, an Asiatic affluent of the Black Sea; nearly all the 

 Cornish birds obviously hybrids with the Chinese ring-necked 

 pheasant, introduced into England towards the close of the 

 eighteenth century. 



Partridge ; resident, abundant, and generally distributed, 

 except on some of the granite districts towards the north coast, 

 where on some estates not a single covey may be seen for the year ; 

 gregarious except in the breeding season ; introduced into Scillj'-, 

 though with little success ; common throughout Europe from the 

 Baltic southwards. 



Barbary Partridge ; the single specimen shot at 

 Killiganon in 1865 was undoubtly introduced, probably in a 

 clutch of eggs. 



