BIRDS 323 



Not the least pleasurable of many days employed in study- 

 ing the habits of Sand Grouse was the 3rd of August 1888, 

 spent with Mr. Eeynolds at Ravenglass. Together we ferried 

 across the estuary to the edge of Drigg Common, and, after 

 traversing a few hundred yards of sand, took up a position 

 behind a long ridge of well-drifted sand. A glance over the 

 ridge revealed the existence of a strip of sandy ground, evi- 

 dently saturated by recent rain. Sea plantain and sea milkwort 

 were the only plants noticed. Conical sand-hills rose and fell 

 in the background, ridge flanking ridge until the sea-beach was 

 reached. In the near foreground, scattered over a small area, 

 were resting the members of a flock of three-and-twenty Sand 

 Grouse. A few were feeding ; some were scattered in twos and 

 threes around ; in the centre ten or eleven birds were squatting 

 close to one another. In spite of all precautions, they seemed 

 to suspect danger, and began to run together with shambling 

 gait. A moment later found fifteen birds at once within the 

 focus of the field-glass. Up to this juncture no cry was heard, 

 but when the birds rose in a pack their cry was distinctly 

 audible, notwithstanding the deafening clamour overhead of a 

 large colony of Common Terns (Sterna fluviatilis). 



The cry of the Sand Grouse has been rendered as ' truck- 

 turuk, truck-turuk/ by Prjevalsky, and this is certainly an 

 accurate rendering of a not unmelodious call-note ; but if a 

 flock of Sand Grouse be startled at close quarters, their alarm 

 note is harder and more guttural than the customary chorus of 

 their united voices. 



During the earlier portion of their sojourn, these birds 

 appeared to feed principally on the seed of clover, turnip, and 

 rye. Later in the year they glutted themselves on the seeds of 

 the corn and spurrey (Spergularia arvensis), a troublesome weed. 

 I sent to Mr. Tegetmeir a gizzard crammed with this small seed. 

 The birds shifted from one quarter to another in a way that 

 greatly increased the difficulty of studying their movements. 

 Their vagaries proved them to be true Bedouins, inheriting a 

 wandering disposition from their progenitors, whose prolonged 

 adaptation to sterile regions has clearly caused them to transmit 

 to their descendants a roving disposition. Upon the whole, it 



