Ornithological Notes. 



181 



be preserved and added to the valuable collection of Caith- 

 ness birds possessed by that gentleman. It is very remark- 

 able that this bird, hitherto so rare in Britain, has, within 

 the past few weeks, appeared suddenly in small parties in 

 various and widely-separated districts of England, a circum- 

 stance first observed by Dr Sclater, who communicated the 



information in a letter to the Times The 



first British specimen was procured in Norfolk in 1859. 

 A second specimen, obtained about the same time, was 

 placed in the well-known Derby Museum at Liverpool. 

 Till then it was considered doubtful whether the bird could 

 be included even in the European list. The Prince of 

 Canino gave it a place, but it was omitted by Gould, Tem- 

 minck, &c. The entire length of this curious bird is about 

 fourteen inches. The female is rather larger than the male, 

 and weighs about eleven ounces The Sand- 

 Grouse will form a very interesting addition to the already 

 extensive list of Caithness birds." 



Mr E. I. Shearer informs me that a Sand Grouse, one of 

 a pair, was also shot at Ulbster, Caithness, by Mr Bently- 

 Innes, in 1863. 



These birds are natives of the steppes of Tartary and 

 China, and before this strange irruption of them into Britain, 

 they were considered very rare indeed. 



At the British Association meeting at Newcastle in August 

 1863, Mr A. Newton, F.L.S., read a communication " On 

 the recent irruption of Pallas' Sand-Grouse," stating that 

 to his knowledge 109 of these rare birds had been killed 

 in the British Isles, of which 63 were shot in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk.* 



3. Falco subbuteo — the Hobby. In the month of July 

 last a small hawk was shot near Portobello, and from the 

 statement of the bird-stuffer who examined it, describing it 

 as a miniature Peregrine Falcon, with a similar black cheek 

 and moustache, there seems little reason to doubt it must 

 have been a specimen of the rare Hobby. A few instances 

 only of its occurrence as a summer visitor in England have 



* See short note of the paper in the British Associatiou Report for 18G3 

 p. 106. 



