198 The New British Sand-Grouse. 



the sandy deserts about Dshibel Mamut. In calling it a Tetrao 

 he followed the arrangement of Linnams, who included under 

 that generic term both the true grouse of high northern lati- 

 tudes, and the widely different sand-grouse of the hotter parts 

 of the Old World, with which the paradoxus is most nearly 

 alhed. 



Temminck, early in the present century, proposed the 

 generic term Pterocles for the various species of sand-grouse, 

 and, shortly after, Illiger separated from these the single species 

 under consideration, and called it Syrrhaptes paradoxus, the name 

 by which it is now recognized by ornithologists. The English 

 name of Pallas' s Three-toed Sand-grouse, which has since come 

 into general use, commemorates the name of its discoverer, and 

 refers to one of the peculiarities of its structure (that of its. 

 feet), which distinguishes it from all the species of Pterocles. 



M. Delanoue and Dr. Eversmann appear to have been the 

 next travellers who met with the Syrrhaptes, and who published 

 their observations. M. Delanoue describes their walk as slow 

 and laboured, and their flight rapid, direct, and elevated. 

 " The nest is composed of the down of grasses, and placed 

 among sand and stones under a bush. The eggs are four in 

 number, of a reddish white colour, spotted with brown. The 

 female quits her nest only at the last extremity. The Kirghiz 

 call these birds Biddruk; and the Russians, Sadschti." 



Dr. Eversmann states that the Syrrhaptes, in the western part 

 of its range, never passes further to the north than latitude 46° ; 

 but that eastward it ranges into higher latitudes, being found 

 on the high steppes of the Southern Altai Mountains, on the 

 uppermost course of the Tschuja, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Chinese outposts, where the Mongols call it Nuhiuru. 



Skins of these birds havo since found their way, at raro 

 intervals, to various public and private collections, from the 

 Gobi Steppe, from Lake Baikal, and from Buchariaj but 

 nothing further became known of their history or range until 

 the flammed of 1859, when the first-recorded European speci- 

 mens were obtained. Wo next hear of them as being brought, 

 both alive and dead, in prodigious numbers, to the markets of 

 Pekin, from whence several lots were brought alive to England! 

 and deposited in the Zoological Gardens 01 London. Finally, 

 during the present summer, there has been quite an irruption 

 of them in various parts of the country. As tho propriety of 

 including this spi eies in the list of European birds rests upon 

 the instances recorded in 1 85$ and in the present year, it is 

 quite worth while to state them in some detail. Before doing 

 so, however, it may be well to note that Prince Charles Lucien 

 Bonaparte included it in his Geographical and Comparative 

 Inst of the Birds of Europe and North America (published in 



