PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE 
169 
of golden plover during the month of May, I was somewhat 
astonished at the appearance of the flocks, and wondered if 
they could really be plovers. Then Colonel Butler, of Herring- 
fleet Hall, who was well acquainted with sand-grouse, identified 
some of these birds in our locality, and the news of their 
presence spread through the medium of the Press. Taxi- 
dermists and dealers offered good prices, such as £^1 a piece, • 
and soon the Norfolk gunners commenced the slaughter of the 
innocents. In a few days I saw several victims which had 
forfeited their lives through putting confidence in the Norfolk 
Nimrods. I never flushed any of the birds from the ground, 
all I saw being on the wing and flying at a tremendous speed. 
A friend of mine, however, walked quite up to a large flock 
which had settled by the side of a ditch near the village of 
Haddiscoe, but not being a naturalist he failed to note whether 
they were drinking or feeding on the chickweed which grows in 
quantity at that particular spot. A flock of thirteen birds spent 
more than a week in a sandy field near Aldeby Church. They 
were so tame that the village boys used to throw stones at them. 
As this was in the month of May, fewer guns were in use than 
during the winter months, consequently the birds were all 
allowed to leave the village. This the natives greatly regretted 
when they learnt the value of their strange visitors.” 
According to Professor Newton two pairs of sand-grouse 
nested in the east of Yorkshire, and others on the Culbin Sands, 
in Moray, whence a nestling two or three days old was sent to 
the distinguished ornithologist. This nestling was exhibited at 
the Annual Meeting of the British Association. Of the flocks 
that came over in 1888 some are said to have remained nearly 
four years; but by 1892 the last of them had left us. So far as 
this country was concerned, an attempt was made to protect the 
birds, Mr. Sydney Buxton succeeding in getting an Act passed 
by Parliament making it a penal offence to destroy sand-grouse 
at any time of the year. The Act came into operation too late 
to do any immediate good ; but it is still in force and, with the 
assistance of County Councils, may prove some protection to 
flocks of sand-grouse which visit us in the future. 
Of the habits of Pallas’ sand-grouse in their native haunts 
very little is known. According to one ornithologist, they are in 
all probability the “ Barguerlac ” of IMarco Polo, and the 
“ Loung-Kio ” or “ Dragon’s-foot ” of the Abbe Hue, author of 
“ Souvenirs d’un Voyage dans la Tartarie.” Their home is in the 
Kirghis Steppes ; but their range extends to Turkestan and the 
region of Lake Baikal, Mongolia, and Northern China. The 
whole family of sand-grouse are fond of basking in the sun, 
in holes scraped in the sand, and the late General Prjevalsky, 
who encountered Pallas’ species in the course of his travels, 
writes : — “ After their morning feed, the flocks betake them- 
selves to some well or salt lake, apparently preferring the fresh 
to the salt water. At the drinking-place as well as at the feed- 
