8682 



Birds. 



5th of May before one was seen in the village itself. White, in his * Natural History 

 of Selborne,' has noted this irregular appearance and sudden withdrawal of the swallow, 

 and tries to press it into the list of reasons for supposing swallows to remain here all 

 winter, which I think a physical impossibility. — J. Ramon ; York. 



Pallas' Sand Grouse at the Scilly Islands. — A male specimen of this oriental grouse 

 was picked up dead at St. Agnes, one of the islands of Scilly, on the. 23rd inst., and it 

 has been preserved by Mr. Vingoe, who ascertained that it was in a highly developed 

 form, tending to show that, with the fact of my specimen having eggs in a very forward 

 state, the chances are pretty much in favour of the calls of Nature resulting in the 

 laying and hatching of eggs. The head of this male bird was plain stone-yellow, 

 without any gular collar. My principal reason for writing is to enable you to record 

 the Scilly islands as one of the localities of the settlement of this species in the United 

 Kingdom. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, June 27, 1863. 



Pallas' Sand Grouse in Cornwall. — I have examined a specimen of this remark- 

 able bird in the flesh, which was shot a day or two since close by the Land's End, and 

 sent for preservation to Mr. Vingoe, who at once submitted it to my inspection. 

 I have taken care to examine the bird as to sex, food, &c, on dissection, and I find 

 it is a female, with the ovary containing a bunch of eggs varying in size from rape 

 seed to swan shot; the gizzard contained gravel and grass seeds, but no insects; the 

 body was, well furnished with puffy, soft flesh, without any fat, and the plumage 

 appears rather worn on the edges; the first quills only show an attenuation toward 

 the extremities, but the filamental feathers in the centre of the tail are extended about 

 two inches beyond the tail, and appear ragged and worn. The general tone of its plu- 

 mage is sienna-yellow, with the feathers on the back and scapularies bordered with 

 dark brown ; the belly-band well defined and dark brown ; the under parts dull buff- 

 yellow; the throat, chin aud sides of the face sienna-yellow, separated under the eyes 

 by an ash-coloured blotch. You will observe, on reference to Gray aud M itchell's 

 • Genera of Birds,' vol. iii., that there is a well-executed figure of this bird: the speci- 

 men now under notice is very like this figure, but instead of the throat having a band 

 of deeper yellow, as represented by Mr. Mitchell, the bright yellow chin and throat of 

 my bird is separated from the dull buff colour of the breast and under parts by a 

 narrow well-defined black line running across the throat: I thought at first that this 

 might be indicative of the male sex, but the result of my examination proves it to be 

 of the other sex ; but it may possibly be a character in the summer plumage of both 

 male and female. — Id. ; June 15, 1863. 



Pallas Sand Grouse in Sussex. — A splendid specimen of Pallas' sand grouse 

 (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) is in my possession for preservation : it was shot on Friday last 

 by Mr. Pickard, of Woodard's Farm, on the estate of Mr. J. A. Hankey, Balcombe. 

 The feet appear very extraordinary, being rough and horny, without any division in 

 the claws, — a provision of nature to counteract the great heat of the hot sands. What 

 it subsists on in that clime does not appear: from the crop of this one I took a spoon- 

 ful of small seeds, the name of which my agricultural friends cannot determine. — 

 Frederick Russell, in the ' Sussex Express' of June 13th, 1863. 



Pallas' 1 Sand Grouse in Sussex. — A friend of mine has obtained in this neighbour- 

 hood a good specimen of what we believe to be the sand grouse. It is of a sandy 

 colour, with black bars on the back, marked very similar to the female kestrel hawk, 

 with pointed wings and rather long tail, which ends in a fine point; legs feathered to 

 the toes, the bottom of the foot very rough ; in good plumage. We believe it to be a 



