570 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



tion will be found in Mr. Grinell's essay " In Buffalo Days " in American 

 Big-Game Hunting (Boone and Crockett Club), edited by Th. Roosevelt 

 and G. B. Grinell, Edinburgh, 1893. 



See also Hornaday, The Extirpation of the American Bison, 1889, and a 

 monograph by J. A. Allen, " The American Bisons, Living and Extinct " : 

 Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, vol. iv., 1876. 



Note 19, p. 102. — Fighting -ruffs. 



The ruff {Machetes pugnax) is in many ways a most interesting bird. 

 Thus, there is the rapid change of plumage, as the result of which the male 

 acquires his characteristic frill or ruff before the breeding season. The 

 indefatigable pugnacity of the males, the efficacy of their shield, their 

 assiduous polygamous courtship, their subsequent carelessness as to the 

 fate of the reeve and her young, and their extraordinary " polymorphism ", 

 are very remarkable. While the individual peculiarities of plumage are 

 very marked, each ruff is true season after season to its own idiosyncrasy. 

 Visitors to the National Museum of Natural History in London will 

 remember a beautiful case of ruffs in the Entrance Hall. 



Note 20, p. 103.— Sky-goat. 



Bleating of snipe. There has been much discussion as to the origin of 

 the peculiar drumming or bleating sound made by the snipe, to which it 

 owes its Scotch name of " heather-bleater ", but many at least agree with 

 Brehm. 



Note 21, p. 106. — Sand-grouse. 



Sand-grouse (JPterocles and Syrrhaptes), a group of birds quite di.stinct 

 from the grouse. One species, Syrrhaptes paradoxus, "ranging from 

 Northern China across Central Asia to the confines of Europe ", has shown 

 a tendency to extensive migration, visiting Britain, for instance, in 1859, 

 1863, 1872, 1876, and abundantly in 1888. For a concise account of these 

 iri'egular invasions see Newton's Dictionary of Birds. 



Note 22, p. \01.—Yurt. 



According to Eadloff "jurte" or "yurt" is a general name for a more 

 or less transportable rough hut made of stakes, felt, bark, and the like, 

 varying slightly in construction in different districts. The ring to which 

 Brehm here refers is probably that through which the upper ends of the 

 converging stakes are thrust. 



Note 23, p. 109.— The Jerboa. 



The rodent here referred to is the Kirghiz jerboa {Alaotaga decumana). 

 What Brehm says as to its eating eggs and young birds is confirmed by 

 others. 



Note 24, p. 115. — The Sand-grouse or Steppe-grouse. 



Pallas's Sand-grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), see note 21. 



