Thropton on the coast of Northumberland on May 21 ; 

 after this date the records come thick and fast from 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland till about midsummer, 

 and continue through the following months till 

 November 28, when a specimen was killed near War- 

 rington. 



I do not refer to the vast number of continental 

 occurrences recorded by Professor Newton, but may 

 state with regard to the British Islands that the Sand- 

 Grouse in 1863 reached Unst, in Shetland, to the 

 north, Eastbourne, Slapton, and Scilly to the south, 

 and Navan, co. Donegal, to the west. The editor of 

 the 4th edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. iii. 

 p. 35, states that a few individuals lingered in the Wild 

 West through the autumn and winter ; but that even 

 there, by February 1864 the last of the invaders of 

 1863 had succumbed. 



We do not hear of this species in our country again 

 till 1872, when, according to the authority last quoted, 

 a few were reported from Northumberland and Ayr- 

 shire in May and June, and in October 1876 two were 

 shot near Kilcock, co Wexford. Of the great invasion 

 of 1888 my readers are no doubt well aware, and as 

 we are hoping for full details concerning it from the 

 same able pen that described that of 1863, I will only 

 say that it far exceeded the first in numbers, and that 

 in at least two well-authenticated instances young birds 

 were hatched out by their parents under natural con- 

 ditions in Scotland {cf. < Ibis,' April 1890, pp. 207- 

 214, pi. vii.) 



Eor details of .the habits of this singular bird in its 



