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me that there is an adult specimen in the Museum of Perpignan obtained in the market of that 

 town on the 18th October, 1859. In Italy the first were obtained in May 1863, near Predazzo, 

 when one out of a flock of ten or twelve was shot by an Austrian officer near Belluno ; a second 

 was brought to the market of Treviso ; another was taken near Rimini, and one near Carpigiano, 

 in the Modenese. In 1864 one was obtained near Friuli, in January, and one at Novara about the 

 middle of February. In Sicily it has not occurred ; for Mr. Howard Saunders writes to me that 

 he was in error in citing it as having been obtained near Syracuse, the mistake having arisen in 

 transcribing his rough notes, in which only the vernacular name had been written, the bird 

 referred to being a male Pterocles alchata. According to Dr. Anton Fritsch several were killed 

 in Bohemia, chiefly in the southern portions : the first was obtained at Dobris, and another at 

 one of the gates of Prague. There are several instances on record of its occurrence in Austria. 

 Bitter von Tschusi-Schmidhofen informs me that Pfarrer Jukovits obtained a male in May and a 

 female in June 1863 near the Neusiedler lake, and in January 1864 a third specimen ; others 

 were observed in February and March. A watcher killed a female out of a flock of four on the 

 15th of May, 1863, near Augezd, at Sokolnitz (Moravia): in the ovarium were eggs as large as 

 a pea; and the stomach contained barley and other unknown seeds. In 1864 about twenty were 

 seen near Brody (Galicia), and three shot, which are now in the collection of Count Dzieduszycki. 

 Three were killed at Neumarkt, and one flew against the telegraph-wires and broke its wing. 



The above-quoted localities are, so far as I can ascertain, those where the present species 

 "has hitherto been met with, chiefly during the curious irruption which took place in 1863, the 

 cause of which is quite unknown, and can only be surmised. As, however, so large a number of 

 individuals appear to have then visited Europe, it may be taken for granted that many were killed 

 of which no record was obtained, and the area over which the present species then spread itself 

 may probably have been more extensive than is above stated. 



The true home of Pallas's Sand-Grouse is the large sandy steppes of Asia, where it is met with 

 as far east as China. First described by Pallas from examples sent alive by Rytschkoff from near 

 Dshidel-mamut, in the Kirghis steppes, it was subsequently sent from the great steppes of Gobi ; 

 and in 1856 Dr. G. Radde met with it when collecting in South-eastern Siberia, and was the first 

 to publish an account of its nidification and general habits, a translation of which I give below. 

 Severtzoff states that it is resident in North-eastern Turkestan ; and Pere David says that it breeds 

 in Mongolia and visits the plains of Pekin either during severe winters or when there is much 

 snow in Central Asia; and Mr. Swinhoe writes (Ibis, 1861, p. 341) respecting its occurrence in 

 North China as follows : — " Your readers will be both surprised and delighted to hear of the 

 abundant occurrence of this species during the winter about the plains between Peking and 

 Tientsin. Flocks of hundreds constantly pass over with a very swift flight, not unlike that of 

 the Golden Plover, for which we at first mistook them. The market at Tientsin was literally 

 glutted with them, and you could purchase them for a mere nothing. The natives called them 

 ' Sha-chee,' or Sand-fowl, and told me they were mostly caught in clap-nets. After a fall of snow 

 their capture was greatest ; for where the net was laid the ground was cleared and strewed with 

 small green beans ; the cleared patch was almost sure to catch the eyes of the passing flocks, 

 who would descend and crowd into the snare. It only remained then for the fowler, hidden at a 

 distance, to jerk the strings, and in his haul he would not unfrequently take the whole flock. 



