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NOTES ON THE 

 OCCURRENCE OF PALLAS' SAND- GROUSE 

 IN THE SPURN DISTRICT IN THE 

 SPRING OF 1888. 



JOHN CORDEAUX, M.B.O.U., 

 Great Cotes, Ulceby, Lincohishire. 



The Sand-Grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus) were first seen by Mr. Philip 

 Loten and his father on Kilnsea Warren, on May i8th, at about 

 4.30 p.m. — wind S.E. (4) — four birds travelling overhead, and within 

 easy gunshot. They came from the direction of the sea on to the 

 Warren. At the same time, between four and five o'clock, C. Hopper, 

 near Spurn Lighthouses, saw five arrive in the same manner, and 

 pitch near the chalk embankment on the Humber side. In the after- 

 noon of this day Mr. Sergent, of Welwick, saw a covey of twenty on 

 his farm in that parish (these were also subsequently seen by others); 

 and at the same date also, a single male bird was obtained at Irby, 

 six miles south-west of Grimsby, in Lincolnshire. This, I sub- 

 sequently found, was one of three, shot from a small band of five, by 

 a boy who was employed in tenting birds, on the Wold. I rescued it 

 some days afterwards by chance, the other two having been plucked 

 and eaten. These four separate occurrences mark their time of 

 arrival very clearly on the i8th of the month. Mr. F. Boyes, who 

 has been at much pains to ascertain the number visiting Flam- 

 borough, informs me that they also arrived there on the i8th. 



A flight of twenty was seen near the Spurn Point on the 22nd, 

 and another of twelve on the 23rd, about thirty near Kilnsea 

 Warren, on the 24th; and on the 25th C. Hopper, of Spurn, states 

 that he saw about the same number flying directly south — probably 

 these may have been the same flock seen on the previous day. 

 A considerable number also, from a single bird to five, have been 

 seen at various times, between the 18th and 26th, in the parishes of 

 Kilnsea, Easington, Skeffling, and Welwick, all near the Spurn. No 

 doubt flocks have been seen more than once, so I have endeavoured 

 to mention only those in which the evidence appears sufficient to in- 

 dicate separate and distinct occurrences. One, a male bird, was shot 

 from four on Swallow Wold, near Caistor, Lincolnshire, on May 23rd ; 

 and on the 26th I saw two small bands, of four each, rise from the 

 sea side of the Spurn sand-hills, between Kilnsea and the Point. 



Exclusive of the two Lincolnshire birds, seven were shot between 

 the i8th and 26th; of these five are males and two females. Also, 

 another, a female, was washed up opposite to Easington. This had 



July 1888. 



