Notes on Sand Grouse. By George Bolam. 547 



In four males, shot from a flock at Fenham, about the middle 

 of October, the central rectrices exceeded the rest of the tail in 

 length by 4£, 4, and 3^- inches respectively, the first primaries 

 extending in like manner beyond the next largest feather in the 

 wing If, \\, and 1£ inches. These were perhaps the finest 

 specimens which came under my notice, the tails in particular 

 being unusually long ; but it is only right to add that, although 

 I do not think the above measurements were materially affected 

 by it, they were taken after the birds had been stuffed and set 

 up. 



The last Sand Grouse which I saw alive was at Easington 

 Demesne upon 24th October, we were shooting Partridges upon 

 a day that was beautifully warm and bright, and in walking 

 across a bare oat stubble, a single bird got up within three or 

 four yards of my feet. It rose very suddenly uttering a rather 

 loud note, and mounted quickly into the air in a slanting 

 direction, until an altitude of some 50 yards had been gained, 

 when, bending round, it passed almost over the head of a friend, 

 who, though an ardent sportsman, is not an ornithologist, and, 

 laughing at me when I said Grouse, he maintained that from 

 its flight the bird must be some sort of Plover. The cry of 

 " tick-a-rick " " tick-a-rick " was often repeated, and after flying- 

 some distance, the bird was observed to dash almost perpendi- 

 cularly downwards with a quick shaking of the wings, rising 

 again when within a few feet of the ground, on almost motion- 

 less pinions, in the manner so common to birds of the Redshank 

 tribe. It appeared to be a male in full plumage, and was very 

 strong upon the wing. Its lying so close, even amongst such 

 scanty covering as was afforded by the bare stubble, is interest- 

 ing, and was very suggestive of sport in the event of the species 

 becoming acclimatized. A month after this, or about the middle 

 of November, Mr Hardie's rabbit-catcher saw a paity of ten or 

 a dozen birds in one of the fields upon Easington Demesne farm, 

 but during the remainder of the winter no more were heard of. 

 On 4th March 1889, however, a solitary individual was seen by 

 Matthew Robertson flying past Goswick, and another, possibly 

 the same bird, frequented Ross links for a day or two about the 

 same time. These, with the exception of two reported by the 

 fishermen to have been seen near the coves at Holy Island a day 

 or two previous to 14th May, are the only instances of Sand 

 Grouse having been observed in the district during 1889, of 



