2G0 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



Mr. Cornish records that he received another Sand-Grouse, a male, -which 

 had been shot on January 3rd, 1880, at Kelynack, in St. Just-in-Penwith, 

 the same place from whence he had obtained his live bird. These appear 

 to be the only occurrences reported from Cornwall ; but we cannot resist 

 the supposition that in all of tlie S.W. counties Sand-Grouse may have 

 been seen, and perhaps shot and eaten, without being either identified or 

 recorded. People with no knowledge of birds might well take them to 

 be either Plovers or Pigeons. 



The Sand-Grouse which arrivfd in the United Kingdom in May and 

 June 1888 continued with us until the beginning of the following spring, 

 when they gradually disappeared. In many ])laces great care was taken 

 to protect them, in the hopes that they might remain and nest ; but when 

 the restless spirit of migration came upon them they wandered off — and 

 •whither ? Did they press westwards, to perish on the Atlantic, or did 

 anv of them safelv return to their distant Ea-stern home by the shores of 

 Lake Baikal ? 



The name conferred by ornithologists upon the Sand-Grouse sufficiently 

 indicates what a strange bird it is. The specific name given to it is 

 paradoA'us. surj)rising ; for, in appearance, it is something like a Pigeon; 

 it flies with great velocity, somewhat resembling a Golden Plover when 

 on wing : its legs and feet are feathered like a Grouse, and its tail has 

 the two central feathers elongated and terminating in a narrow point. Its 

 generic name, S>irrhapfes-='''' sewn together," refers to its toes, which are 

 united to;:ether, and remind one of the fingerless gloves worn by babies ; 

 the under surface of the foot is covered by a hard skin, so that the birds 

 can conveniently run over the heated sands. Their united toes occasion 

 the waddling gait we have already described. All the Sand-Grouse have 

 their upper parts coloured with tawny yellow of darker or paler shades, 

 corresponding with the tints of the sandy ste])pes which are their native 

 home ; some of them have bright belts of blaclf or orange on the lower 

 parts of the body, but when the birrls squat these conspicuous colours are 

 hidden, and the protective tints of the plumage of the head, wings, and 

 back make it extremely difficult to distinguish them upon the ground. 



"We have in our collection specimens which were among the first killed 

 out of the 1803 arrivals : two shot by Mr. W. C. Mathew, of the G4th 

 Eegimcnt, at Ahlershot, on 20th May, in that year. The G4th had but 

 just returned from India, and the Major of the regiment came across and 

 recognized a flock of Sand-Grouse on the heath, reporting them as " Sindh 

 Doves," a name given to the Pintailed Sand-Grouse (Pterodes alchnta, 

 Licht.), which is very abundant in X.AV. India, and is also a common 

 species in North Africa and in the South of Spain. We have no knowledge 

 of Pallas's Sand-Grouse ever having been detected in India. 



The causes which led to the wandering off from their native home of 

 these great armies of Sand-Grouse can only be conjectured. Perhaps they 

 had become congested in some particular district, and there had been a 

 failure in some necessary food ; all the streams and lakes of the country 

 in which the flocks collected, and from whence they started, may have been 



