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, v^ithin 
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 suhhuteo~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 Association Report for 1863, 
p. 106. 
