198 



PALLAS SAND-GROUSE. 



from twenty to two hundred head; 19th, a few; 20th, small flocks, 

 from five to twenty; 21st, fog, none seen; 22nd, hundreds, many 

 females; 23rd, flocks from ten to forty; 24th, many great flights, 

 from fifty to one hundred ; 25th, many flights from five to twenty — 

 very cold northerly wind blowing rather fresh. 



' This is principally to tell you to look after the birds in sandy, 

 gravelly places, the flat beach at foot of the sand-dunes, like our 

 Sandy Island ; on the top of our cliff, the cultivated ground, they are 

 met with in far less proportion, not ten to one hundred. To see the 

 birds when squatting on ground composed of sand, stones and some 

 dry seaweeds, is scarcely possible — and they know this well, because 

 they lay so close. 



' What flyers they are ! They beat all we ever have seen here.' 



THE IRRUPTION OF PALLAS' SAND-GROUSE. 



Denmark. — In 1863 comparatively large flocks of this interesting 

 bird settled in Denmark in the neighbourhood of Ringkjobing, 

 where it built and lay, but the eggs being collected, many eaten, 

 others procured for public and private collections, disturbed the bird 

 so that it did not have the peace and protection requisite to encourage 

 it to settle down and breed. 



This year, 1888, it has appeared here again ; the first I saw was one 

 that had killed itself by flying against the telegraph wires near Assens 

 in Fiinen on the ist of May, and since that date they have been 

 observed in flocks in various districts over the country. Last week 

 a large flock of over one hundred were seen in the neighbourhood of 

 Thisted in North Jutland, Denmark. Its Danish name is Steppe- 

 honen. — J. S. Wood, Nyborg, Denmark, June 19th, 1888. 



Flamborough, Yorkshire. — Friday morning, June 15th— 

 Fifty in a flock were seen flying in a westerly direction. Several 

 flocks, from ten to twenty in a flock, seen at a radius of twenty miles 

 from the Headland. One found dead on the beach, probably fallen 

 in the sea and washed on shore. A gentleman farmer also picked 

 up one in his field minus its head ; another one found wounded, no 

 doubt it had been in contact with the telegraph wires. From the 

 reports, a great many have been shot to preserve. I have had 

 several sent in for that purpose. — Matthew Bailey, Flamborough, 

 June i8th, 1888. 



Since writing to you on the i8th, several more flocks of Pallas' 

 Sand-Grouse have been seen on the Headland. — Matthew Bailey, 

 Flamborough, June 22nd, 1888. 



Naturalist, 



