by the late Professor Garrod (P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 249-259),
that they must certainly he included in the same sub-order
with the Pigeons, although forming two quite independent
families. In arriving at that conclusion, it would, however,
appear that a little .too much stress was laid upon the points
in which the Sand-grouse resemble the Pigeons and differ
from the Fowls, without equal consideration having been
given to their affinities with the Tetraonidoe and with the
Plovers. Putting aside minor points, the principal features
may be briefly summed up as follows :—The nestling-
plumage of the Band-grouse is a thick downy covering
like that of the Plovers and Fowls; and, like them,
the young can shift for themselves, whereas the Pigeons
when hatched are almost nude, and quite helpless, ^sPhe
suppression of the hind toe, characteristic of Syrfhafites,
does not occur- in Pigeons,or Fowls,, )>ut it is a common
feature, in Plovers., Unlike the majority=,of -th
the Pteroclidoe possess a gall-bladder; and in the great
development of the cæca, they differ from the Qol/iiiïiibi'doe,
and resemble the GaWmæZ Their mode of drinking is
entirely different from that of the Pigeons ; their flight
is rapid and Plover-like, without any the gliding or
soaring motion characteristic'.of Pigeons-; their -noté is
certainly unlike a cé'èy and, lastly, their eggs, although
elliptical in shape, are -coloured, and are at least three in
number-, like those of many Plovers,-whereas with Pigeons
the eggs are two in numbef.; and white. . On the other hand,
the Sand:grouse re^emblefj^ose genera of Pigeons which
possess an oil-gland, in Tiavdng •it,, naked and-not tuftécha^
in the Fowls and Plovers ; :the :skul'l and wing-bones*are
Columbine, and in' ^Heii inyôïogy also the Sand-grouse are
more-nearly allied todhe Ihgepps, than -;fo any-other grppp. I
After much ;,,oon^der%tion the Editor thinks it-advisable to
adopt fQ£ the Sand-grous§ Jhe, separate -Order to which PVo;
fessor Huxley gave the name qf* ' su^se'
quently modified by Mr. P. L. Sclater to Ptej^ocletes.f
No event ■ in- th’e annalis of ornithology has excited ffiore
interest than the irruption of Pallas’s Sand-grouse, which
commenced, so far as regards the British Islands, in
1859, and attained its maximum in 1863. 1 The history of
the visitation has been admirably narrated by Professor
Newton (Ibis, 1864, pp. 185-222)? details as'regards the'
eastern counties being subsequently furnished-by Mr. H.
Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, i. pp. 37 6-404)#-and from
their able treatises the present abbreviated account is mainly
derived.
The earliest date on record of the appearance of the Sand-,
grouse in Britain was about the beginning of July, 1:85,9,'
at Walpole S t.!Peter’s; about two miles -from the. Wash,
Norfolk; the example, a fine 'male, being ^secured for - the
Lynn Museum; and a notice-of its capture communicated
to the ‘ Zoologist,’ p. 6764, and to the b Ibis ’ -:(1859, p,
472), by the Rev. • F. L. Currie. On 9th July, another
male was shot from a flock of- three, near Tremadoc, at the
north end of Cardigan' Bay, and-presented by Mr? Chaffers
to the Derby Museum, a t Liverpool; A notice of this had
already appeared in the- * Zoologist !- (p. 6728), from Mr;
T. J. Moore, who subsequently gave a full account of it in
the ‘ Ibis,r (1860, - pp. 105-rllO), illustrated by one of- Mr;
Joseph WolUs admirable plates. In-November, 1859; Mr*
George Jell, of Lydd; in Kent, preserved a specimen for
Mr. Simmons, of East Peokbam,- near ;T.ufibfidge, and these
three are all which are known to' have ■ been obtained in
Great Britain prior to 1863-; all statements -as to arrivals
during the intervening years having apparently originated in
error.
On the continent, in the same -yekr; a pair Appear to have
been obtained at Wilna, ip Western Russia, in May*$ a third
;example.was at Hobro, in Jutland.; and a fourth, one of &
pair which had haunted^the sandhills near Zandvoprt, in
Holland,- since July, was shot there in* October.' In 1869?
one was obtained .at Sarepta, on; the Lower Volga,
In 1863 cam A the great-invasion, extending' westwards tp
Naran, on the coast of Donegal. To understand it, allusion
must first be made to a -portion of its-course pp tl# ; contiv
o n . III. F