142 
J. HOPKINSOX—NOTES OX BIRDS 
this. They were first seen passing over the island of Heligoland 
on the 8th of May, and were observed by the veteran naturalist, 
Herr Gratke, almost daily throughout the month in flocks of a few 
up to two hundred. “ What flyers they are,” he says, in a letter 
to Mr. John Cordeaux, “ they heat all we have ever seen here.” * 
They reached our coast on or before the 13th of May, on which 
day they were first seen in Norfolk. Mr. T. Southwell estimates 
that, up to the 31st October, from eleven to twelve hundred birds 
were seen in this county alone, and that nearly two hundred were 
killed.f They have been recorded, as in 1863, from most of the 
counties of England, and from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; hut 
the number shot is happily much less in proportion to the number 
seen than it was then. Unfortunately, however, as Mr. Southwell 
says, when they first arrived, every man’s hand was against them, 
and although they came prepared to nest here, they were not 
allowed to settle until too late—until the breeding season was over. 
So far I believe only two undoubted instances of nesting have been 
recorded. In June a sand-grouse was shot in Norfolk as it rose 
from its nest, and three eggs were taken from it, and a nest was 
seen near Durham with three young birds in it. 
Scarcely a week after their first appearance in Norfolk they 
were, as we have seen, first observed in Hertfordshire. A though 
Mr. Littleboy has not given the date on which the two dead birds 
were picked up near Hoyston, it must, from his expression “ I had 
heard,” have been before the 20th of May, when about 40 were 
seen by Mr. Campbell near Hoddesdon. In the pages of the 
‘ Zoologist ’ and of the ‘ Naturalist ’ will be found records of 
their appearance in different parts of the kingdom in every month 
from May to February, and many birds must still be with us.J 
It might be interesting to discuss the various hypotheses which 
have been suggested to account for the irruption of Pallas’ sand- 
grouse into Europe, but I think there are only two sufficiently 
probable to be worth mentioning. It was thought by Alfred 
Newton to be due to “the natural overflow of the population of 
Syrrhaptes, resulting from its ordinary increase; ” § while Henry 
Seebohm suggests that “ They had visited, or attempted to visit, 
their usual breeding-grounds, and, finding their progress eastwards 
barred by cold or snow, had changed their course.” || It may be 
* ‘ Zoologist,’ ser. 3, vol. xii, p. 267. 
f lb. p. 448. 
X “An Act for the better protection of the Sand-grouse in the United 
Kingdom. ” (51 and 52 Yict. ch. 55) was passed in December. It consists of a 
preamble : “ Whereas it is expedient to provide for the protection of the Sand- 
grouse, in order that it may, if possible, become acclimatised in the United 
Kingdom” ; and two clauses, the first prohibiting, between 1st February, 1889, 
and 1st January, 1892, the killing, wounding, taking, or selling of any Sand- 
grouse, under a penalty of £1; and the second stating that the Act “ may be 
cited as the Sand-grouse Protection Act, 1888.” The postponement of the time 
of the Act coming into operation probably defeated its object, leading to the 
killing of many birds before the 1st of February. 
§ ‘ Ibis,’ vol. vi, p. 219 (1864). 
|| ‘ British Birds,’ vol. ii, p. 420.(1884). 
