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Notes of supposed re-appearance of the Sa?id Grouse. By 

 the Rev. F. R. Simpson. 



I have to mention to this Club the supposed re-appearance 

 of the Sand Grouse, as reported to me by Mr J. Coldwell, of 

 Beadnell. I say supposed re-appearance, because unfortun- 

 ately none of the birds have been captured. Mr Coldwell 

 first observed them on Sunderland Burn Crumbles, on the 

 16th May. Being very anxious to secure a specimen, he 

 was diligent and persevering in pursuit, but failed in his 

 object ; the birds being so exceedingly shy and wary, that he 

 only once succeeded in getting within range. He shot one, 

 as he supposed, and let it lie where it fell, hoping the others 

 might again come about it ; but after waiting a short time in 

 vain, and then going to pick up his bird, was mortified to 

 see it rise and go away, apparently unhurt. He never 

 had another chance. The number of Sand Grouse he reports 

 as six — -three of larger size, about the size of a hen pheasant; 

 colour over the back a reddish brown, but decidedly paler 

 than the grouse. The breast was lighter coloured, with a 

 broad dark crescent band across it ; this not so marked in 

 the smaller birds. There were haunting the same ground, 

 and at times in company with them, two other birds, which 

 he describes as long-legged, taller, and thinner-bodied than 

 the Sand Grouse, and which he does not think were bitterns. 

 He did not see the birds after the 20th, but frequently heard 

 them calling amongst the corn, and believes they remained in 

 the neighbourhood till about the middle of June. I may 

 mention also, that on the last-noted appearance of the 

 Pallas Sand Grouse (1863), they haunted the same and 

 adjoining links to south and east ; and would, I believe, have 

 bred there had they not been molested. The flock that I first 

 observed in that year numbered about fifteen birds. Dr 

 Tristram, in a letter to my friend the Rev. Mr Thorp, and 

 which he has kindly put into my hands to read, says : " The 

 bird is a native of Taitary and Southern Siberia as far as the 

 north shores of the Caspian, and to the edge of the Black Sea. 

 It has not unfrequently left the Steppes and visited the vast 

 plains of Russia in Europe. They seem, like the Wax-wing, 

 to migrate irregularly ; perhaps when food is scarce. I can- 

 not say anything about the difference in size ; but in plumage 

 the sexes and ages differ much. 1 have five specimens : four 



