Birds. 



8683 



female bird. There were about seven or eight together.— Charles S. Wille ; East- 

 bourne. — ' Field.' 



Pallas Sand Grouse in Sussex. — A beautiful specimen of the above rare bird was 

 killed at Box Hill, in this county, on the 29th of May last, by coming in contact with 

 the telegraph wires, and was purchased by Mr. Albert Vidler, of Pevensey, who was 

 returning from Hastings at the time. It appears that a covey of eight were seen in 

 the road near Mr. Vidler's house, at Pevensey, the day before, by one of Mr. Vidler's 

 men, named Edward Bunney, dusting themselves like partridges; but before Mr. 

 Vidler could get out with his gun they had disappeared. They appeared to be 

 travelling eastward. Box Hill being but a few miles from Pevensey, the chances are 

 that it was one of the same flock. The man, being a godd observer, had said that 

 they were very different from partridges. On dissection the specimen proved to be a 

 female : one of the long caudal feathers was wanting, supposed by coming in contact 

 with the telegraph wires. The curious rat-like feet and toes were very peculiar. In 

 the crop there was a little of that peculiar grass that grows by the salt water " palls," 

 as they are called in this part. — John Dulton ; 51, Terminus Road, Eastbourne, 

 June 15, 1863. 



Pallas' Sand Grouse in Hampshire. — I have recently had the pleasure of 

 examining, in the flesh, and dissecting a beautiful example of Pallas' sand grouse. 

 On the 26th of May my brother was told by the major of his regiment that he had 

 disturbed a brace of sand grouse that morning while riding on the heath, at no great 

 distance from the camp at Aldershot. My brother at once went to the spot where the 

 birds had been seen: they were still there, but rose wild and out of shot. They were 

 marked down, and this time my brother had a long shot and killed one of them : the 

 other escaped. My brother at once despatched to me the bird he had killed. When 

 I handled it I was struck by the fitness of its specific name of " paradoxus," for 

 to look upon this little sand grouse is something of a puzzle. The beak and ihe horse- 

 shoe markings on the breast, remind one of a partridge; but the head and neck 

 remind one of a dove ; the wings are like a swift's, or perhaps more closely resemble 

 " those of a shearwater, but have a peculiarity of their own in the pinnated first 

 primaries ; the pinnated tail-feathers put one in mind of the mallard pintail ; while 

 the feet, with the exception of wanting a hind spur, resemble those of a grouse. The 

 plumage (dissection proved the bird a female) is of an uniform isabelline colour, prettily 

 barred with umber-brown; on either side of ihe head, and extending a little beyond 

 the ear-coverts, is a patch of beautiful orange-yellow: the horse-shoe marking on the 

 breast is of a very dark chestnut, almost black. The bird was extremely plump, and 

 so fat that it was not easy to skin it. The crop was full to distention of the seeds of 

 a species of grass which grows commonly on heaths ; these, a few small pebbles, and 

 one or two tops of grass-blades, were all I could discover. There were no traces of 

 insect remains. I was much struck by the great depth of the keel of the sternum in 

 proportion to the other bones of the bird ; I did not measure it, but am confident that 

 it must exceed an inch or even an inch and an eighth in depth. The shape of 

 the wings, their very powerful muscles, and the depth of the sternum, would indicate 

 that the bird is possessed of great powers of flight. My brother noticed the great 

 rapidity with which the birds he saw flew. In the bird I dissected I found eggs 

 larger than peas in the ovary. There seems no reason why this pretty species should 

 nut be naturalized in this country. From several notices which have recently appeared 

 in the 'Times,' it is evident that a considerable flight of this little grouse has been 

 driven by some cause or other to visit England. The birds appear to have no difficulty 



