^f. ^- CoLUMBA CENAs, Linn£eus *. THE STOCK DOVE. Columha (cnas. By Montagu, Bewick, Fleming, and some of the earlier authors, the Stock Dove was confounded with the Rock Dove, from which, however, it is now well known to be perfectly distinct. Whilst this confusion lasted, the name was sup- posed to he owing to its being considered to be the origin of our domestic stock ; but the appellation is now generally attributed to its habit of nesting in the stocks of trees, par- * Columha o/nas, Liniiicus, Syst. Nat. EJ. 12 (1766), i. p. 279, in part, tlic description being somewhat confused with that of the Domestic Pigeon, although in the Fauna Suecica, p. 75 (1761), the author had aneurately described the present species. As the name has been long and almost universally applied to this bird, there seems to be no adequate reason for rejecting it. (Enaa from olvos, vimim. STOCK DOVE. 9 ticularly such as have been headed down, and have become rugged and bushy at the top. Its German name Hohltauhe, or Hole-Dove, is similarly owing to the predilection for hollow trees. In fact, the peculiar nesting habits of this Dove are amongst its principal characteristics. In wooded countries it generally selects elms, oaks, and willows — especially pollards — and the hollows of beeches : frequently making no nest but depositing its eggs upon the rotten wood which has accumulated; it also makes use of old Crows' and Magpies' nests and squirrels' dreys, the matted boughs of the Scotch fir, and ivy-grown trees and ruins. In such situations as the foregoing its eggs may be found even so near to London as Richmond, Windsor, and Cashiobury Parks, and generally throughout the wooded southern counties of England. But in the open districts — Norfolk and Suffolk — it occupies the deserted rabbit-burrows upon wai'rens ; placing its eggs about a yard from the entrance, generally upon the bare sand, sometimes using a small quantity of dried roots, &c., barely sufficient to keep the eggs from the ground. Besides such situations on the heath, it nestles under thick furze bushes which are imper- vious to rain in consequence of the sheep and rabbits eating off the young and tender shoots as they grow ; the birds always preferring those bushes that have a small opening made by the rabbits near the ground.* The young, which are ready for the table early in June, are stated by Professor Newton to be a source of considerable profit to the warreners, whose perquisites they are ; and in consequence almost every warrener keeps a " dowe-dawg," i.e., a dog trained to discover the burrows in which the Doves breed, f They also breed in the rabbit-burrows of the Lincolnshire coast and of Walncy Island, Lancashire. But the nesting pecu- liarities of the Stock Dove do not end here. Mr. Harting (Zoologist, 1867, p. 758) relates how a pair bred for several seasons on a crossbeam in the old spire of Kingsbury Church, and the young birds, which he took and reared, * J. D. Salmon, Loudon's Mag. Nat. H. ix. p. 520. f Stevenson, Birds of Norfolk, i. p. 35(5. VOL. III. C 10 columbidj:. were seen by many ornithologists. By the same jjlau Mr. Harting also proved that the Pigeons which frequented the Dorsetshire cliffs about Lulworth Cove were not, as had been generally supposed, Rock Doves, but Stock Doves. There can, indeed, be little doubt that in several locali- ties a similar error has prevailed ; and this is certainly the case in the Undercliff district of the Isle of Wight, where the Editor can state from personal knowledge that the Stock Dove is the species which nests in abundance in the holes of the wooded crags near Ventnor. It also nests in the sea cliffs of Flamborough, where, however, the Rock Dove is also found. Under these circumstances it is not so strange that this species should have been confounded with the Rock Dove, for it appears to be about the same size when on the wing, and although it has not a white rump, yet in its light and rapid flight it far more closely resembles the Rock than its larger and heavier congener the Ring Dove. The eggs, two in number, are oval and white, of a some- what more creamy tint than those of C. palumhus, and measure about 1*5 in length by 1*1 in breadth. They are usually laid about the commencement or middle of April, but Mr. C. Mathew Prior states that fledged young may often be found by the third week of that month, and he also found two fresh eggs in a hollow ash-tree on 2nd October, 1875.* Incubation lasts seventeen or eighteen days. In its habits this species resembles the Ring Dove, but its note is far less distinct and less prolonged, and may not inaptly be described as grunting. Its food is naturally somewhat similar ; but the late Mr. Rodd remarked that in the case of a bird of each species shot at the same discharge, whereas the crop of the Ring Dove contained a great pulp of clover loaves, turnip- tops and bulbs, that of the Stock Dove contained not a leaf of clover, but an egg-full of charlock seeds, some barley and several weed seeds. Columba oenas is, in fact, a south-eastern species which is gradually extending its range northwards and westwards. It has occurred in the Scilly Islands, and sometimes visits * Zoologist, 1879, p. 338. STOCK DOVE. 11 Cornwall in large flocks in winter, passing upwards into Wales, in some counties of which it certainly breeds — among the rocks of Merthyr Tydfil, for example — although nowhere so numerous as the Eing Dove. In Devonshire it is prob- ably increasing, and Mr. Cecil Smith says that it is twenty- fold more numerous in Somersetshire now than in 1869. Although of somewhat local distribution, it occurs through- out the southern, midland, and eastern counties including Lincolnshire, where, Mr. Cordeaux says, it is distinctly on the increase ; and, although scarcer to the north of the Humber, it breeds regularly in the rocks and rabbit- holes of the cliffs in the Hambleton Hills. It has already become common in the neighbourhood of Castle Eden Dene, Durham, and has even pushed its breeding range as far as Northumberland and Berwickshire. Its occurrence in Stirlingshire and southern Perthshire has been recorded by Mr. Dalgleish (Ibis, 1878, p. 38'2), and Mr. R. Gray says that there is evidence that it has straggled as far as Orkney. The instances already cited in which this species has been mistaken for the Eock Dove on the strength of its selecting holes in cliffs for its nesting-place, lead to the supposition that similar and as yet undiscovered errors may have been made elsewhere. In Ireland its occurrence was first recorded by Lord Clermont, who obtained one in October, 1875,* and subsequently obtained another, and ob- served the birds nesting in a crevice of the rock on the hill- side on the borders of Armagh and Louth — a locality which they had been known to frequent for some years, but until then it had not been decided whether they were this species or the Eock Dove. It has also been obtained, and has bred, in county Down.f On the continent it has once been known to straggle beyond the arctic circle, but its usual northern range nearly coincides v/ith that where the oak grows (about 60° to 61° N. lat.) : it being plentiful in south-eastern Norway, Sweden, Germany, and suitable localities in Eussia as far as the Ural, migrating southward in winter. In some of the • Zoologist, 187G, p. 4798. t Op. cil., 1877, p. 383. 12 COLUMBIDyE. large forests of France it is abundant, and resident, but in the countries bordering the Mediterranean it principally occurs on migration. In Morocco, however, Colonel Irby observed it during the breeding-season near Tangier, and also as far south as Larache ; and it certainly visits and probably breeds in Algeria ; but its occurrence as far as Egypt is at present open to doubt. In Palestine and Asia Minor it is also found, reaching as far as the Tigris, but beyond the Persian plateau, and eastward of that line and of Turkestan, its place is taken by a very interesting and dis- tinct species, G. cversmanni. The latter, whilst resembling C. ocnas in the broken and undefined character of the bars on the wing, differs from it in having the basal half of the bill black, the crown of the head vinous, and a pale grey band across the rump, in which latter characteristic it approaches the Kock Dove, C. liria. The beak is horn-white at the tip : the basal portion red ; irides brown ; head, neck, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts bluish-grey ; primary quill-feathers brownish-grey, the ex- ternal margin lighter ; secondaries pearl-grey at the base of the outer web, lead-grey at the ends ; tertials bluish-grey, the last three with a dark lead-grey spot on the outer web, and a similar spot on some of the wing-coverts above, without, however, forming a regular band in any position of the wing ; rump and upper tail-coverts light bluish-grey ; tail of twelve feathers : the basal two-thirds bluish-grey, inclining to white on the outer web of the exterior ones, followed by a band of lighter grey : the ends lead-grey ; chin bluish-grey ; sides of the neck glossy green, with purple reflections ; breast vinous ; belly, flanks, vent, under wing, and under tail-coverts pale bluish-grey; tarsi and feet red. The whole length of the male is about thirteen and a half inches. From the carpal joint to the end of wing nearly nine inches ; the second quill- feather the longest, and the third nearly equal to it. The female is somewhat smaller, and her colours are less brilliant. Young birds before their first moult have no shining metallic feathers in the neck, nor are the spots on the tertials and wing-coverts apparent. ROCK DOVE. COLUMBM. 13 COLVMBIBJE. CoLUMBA LiviA, Gmelin.* THE ROCK DOVE. ColuDiba Uriel. The Rock Dove, as its name implies, is a species which, in its natural and wild state, inhabits rocks whose cavities afford it shelter during the greater part of the year. Such localities are in these islands principally confined to the sea- coast, and consequently the records of the Rock Dove being found breeding inland are, in many cases, open to the suspicion that either the Stock Dove has been mistaken for it, or that the individuals in question are really domestic birds which have abandoned the dovecote. It has already been pointed out that even on the sea-coast it is frequently * Cuhanba Ilvia, Gmelin, Sj'st. Nat. i. p. Ttift (1788), ex Brisson. There is some uncertainty about Gmelin's description, but tlic name has been universally adopted for this species. 14 COLUMBID^. the Stock Dove which has been proved to inhabit the cHffs, as in Dorsetshire, the Isle of Wight, and Yorkshire ; and it seems to the Editor that the only locaHties in which true wild birds can be with certainty indicated as breeding are those in which the rocks offer deep caves, or at least cavities and fissures. Clifls of this description are compara- tively rare on the coast of England, and it is in the north and west, and along the rugged, sea-scooped shores of Scotland, Ireland, and their islands, that the true home of the really wild Eock Dove must be sought. There can be no doubt that this, with two or three closely-allied sub-species or geographical races, is the stock whence our domestic Pigeons have sprung, and a very large proportion of the latter have varied so little from the parent stem, that it is often extremely difficult to distinguish between true- bred wild birds and those which have been at least partially domesticated. Both the wild stock, and the varieties pro- duced from it, have been exhaustively treated by the late Charles Darwin,* and to his masterly arrangement of facts the present abstract is much indebted. In the eastern and southern districts of England, localities suited to its habits are few and far between, and even in some places which apparently off'er the requisite conditions, such as Guernsey, Sark and the smaller Channel Islands, the Eock Dove seems to be little known ; in Devonshire it is also rare and very local, and only a few frequent the cliffs of Cornwall. It can be traced along the coast of Wales to the Isle of Man, to the northwards of which its numbers increase until almost every district up to the confines of the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, has its " Ua' Caloman," or " doo-cave." In Ireland also, especially on the rugged, wave-worn crags of the western side, it is abundant. On the eastern side of England the breeding-places of this species are necessarily few, and even in Yorkshire and Northumberland the birds found in them are open to the suspicion of not being pure wild birds ; but along the coast of Scotland, from the Bass Eock upwards, the wild Eock * Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication, i. pp. 137-23.5, ed. 1 STf). ROCK DOVE. 15 Dove is generally distributed. In many localities either wild birds, or, more probably, those which have become feral, are chequered with black on the wing-coverts and back, and to such a variety the late Mr. Blyth once doubtfully gave the name of C. qffinls. In the Fseroes* it is abundant, but in Scandinavia the wild bird is scarce and very local ; whilst in the rest of northern and central Europe it is decidedly uncommon, except in a feral state, until mountainous regions are reached, when, as in the Pyrenees, it is again met with. In the Canaries it is common, and Mr. Godman states that it is abundant in the Azores, most of his specimens being so dark in plumage that the band on the wings is no longer visible ; dark forms are also found in Madeira, accompanied by so much variability as to raise a strong suspicion that they are domestic Pigeons which have become feral. The same suspicion attaches to C. gymnocyclus, G. R. Gra}', from Senegambia, and also to the birds now found in a wild state in the island of St. Helena. On the coasts of the countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, and on the islands, it is generally distributed ; and in the mountain ranges of Spain, especially in the neighbourhood of the Sierra Nevada, the Editor has seen immense flocks pouring forth from the deep cavernous gorges on the way to their feeding-grounds. He estimated that within a short time fully 7,000 birds passed in his immediate vicinity, each flock being led by a pied and doubtless half- bred bird, of which description there were generally a few individuals in every band. It must be remembered that vast numbers of semi-domestic Pigeons exist in Spain, and that there are well-known laws for their protection, such as the prohibition to shoot at them within a certain distance of the dovecote, or when obviously returning to it. In Italy Bonaparte considered that he had discovered a new species, to which he gave the name of C. turricola ; but this is now considered a mere variety or half-breed. * A bird in which the black bars on the wing were replaced by a few spots, was named by Brebm C. amalue. 16 COLUMBID^. Many of the birds on both sides of the Mediterranean have a distinctly white rump, although even in the west, as in Spain, there is a tendency in the ^Yllite to become less pure than in northern examples, and the baud is often narrower. Proceeding eastward, there is a gradual increase in the number of birds which have less white in the rump, until in the Jordan valley, according to Canon Tristram, only the grey-rumped form, to which Bonaparte gave the name of C. scliimperi, is found ; although in the mountains on either side the true C. livia is abundant. In Eg}'pt, Dr. Leitli Adams states that it is not easy to define the limits of wild and domestic Pigeons, all the denizens of the dove- cotes preserving the leading characteristics of the two black bars on the wings and the single black bar on the tail, with the white on the edges of the outer tail-feathers : most of the domestic birds, however, had the gi-ey rump of C. sckiinperi. True C livia appears, however, to go as far as Mesopotamia, and has also been obtained in Sindh and Cashmere, but in Gilgit, Dr. Scully found both the white-rumped and the grey- rumped forms ; even the latter, however, being always lighter than the extreme form, C. intermedia, Strickland, which in- habits Southern India and Ceylon, and which has the rump as dark as, or darker than, the back. In Turkestan, Central Asia, Tibet and China, is found a more distinct form, C. ruyestris, Pallas, which has a white subterminal band on the tail- feathers. " There seems," says Darwin, "to be some rela- tion between the croup being blue or Avhite, and the temperature of the country inhabited by both wild and dovecot pigeons ; for nearly all the dovecot pigeons in the northern parts of Europe have a white croup like that of the wild European rock pigeon ; and nearly all the dovecot pigeons of India have a blue croup like that of the wild C. intermedia of India." In Britain the Piock Pigeon sometimes begins breeding as earl}' as ^Nlarch : birds recently hatched having been noticed on 2nd April,* and j'oung, and even unhatched eggs, are found in September ; so that at least tw'o broods are reared * K. Gray, Birds of the Wust of ScotlaaJ, p. 2'22. ROCK DOVE. 17 in the j^ear. Deep caverns, moist with the spray from the thundering surge, are its favourite resorts, and on entering one of these in a boat, numbers will dart forth from its dark recesses, and, as the eye becomes accustomed to the twilight, the grey plumage of those which have remained on the more distant ledges, may be discerned against the dark background of the rocks. The nest is slight, con- structed of bents, heather, dried grasses or sea- weed, and the eggs are, as usual, two in number, pure white, of a short oval shape, rather pointed at one end, measuring 1*5 by 1-15. Like its congeners, this species devours considerable quantities of grain ; making amends to some extent by eating the roots of the couch-grass (Triticwm repens), and the seeds of various troublesome weeds when corn is not procurable. Montagu ascertained that it eats considerable quantities of Helix rirgata, and Macgillivray says it picks up several species of shell-snails, especially Helix ericetorum and BiiUmus acutns. It drinks frequently, and in Egypt, in places where the banks of the Nile are so steep that the birds cannot alight on the shore to drink, both Mr. E. S. Skirving and Mr. E. C. Taylor have observed whole flocks settle on the water like Gulls, and drink whilst they floated down stream. The same habit has been observed in tame pigeons at Cologne when the shore-ice in the Ehine prevented approach to the water. It is migratory in the north to a limited extent, impelled by the necessity of seeking food, but generally it is a resident species. One marked characteristic is its strong objection to settling upon trees — a peculiarity shared by its domesticated relatives. The adult has the beak reddish-brown ; irides pale orange ; head and neck bluish-grey, the sides of the latter shining with green and purple reflections ; shoulders, upper part of the back and both sets of wing-coverts french-gi-ey; all the greater coverts with a black mark forming a conspicuous black band; primary and secondary quill-feathers bluish-grey, darker on the outer webs; tertials pale grey with a broad band of black separated from the above-mentioned band by the light- VOL. III. D 18 COLUMBID^. coloured line of the great wing-coverts ; lower back and rump white ; upper tail-coverts slate-grey ; tail-feathers twelve in number, a shade lighter, with a broad terminal dark leaden band, sometimes paler at the extreme tip ; chin bluish-grey ; throat purple and green ; breast, and all the under surface of the body grey; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; under tail-coverts slate-grey ; tarsi and feet red ; claws dark brown. The total length of the male is fourteen inches ; from the carpal joint to the end of the wing nine inches ; the first quill-feather a little shorter than the second which is the longest. The females are smaller than the males, and their colours, especially on the neck and shoulders, are less brilliant. The young, which are at first covered with loose yellow down, are, when fledged, of a duller colour, but other- wise similar to the old birds, with the exception of the metallic tints on the neck : even then their white rump easily distinguishes them from the young of the Stock Dove, and at the first moult they acquire their full plumage. It hardly comes within the scope of this work to enter into details respecting the domesticated varieties sprung from this stock. Many of them, as Darwin has remarked, would, if found wild, have been ranked as distinct species, whilst not a few present even structural peculiarities, which would certainly have led ornithologists to place them in dif- ferent genera. A peculiar interest, however, attaches itself to the Homing Pigeon, one of the least removed from the original stock, and often erroneously called the Carrier. The practice of using Pigeons for the conveyance of messages is of great antiquity, and Dr. Leith Adams (Ibis, 1864, p. 26) states that on one of the walls of the Temple of Medinet Haboo is a sculpture of the time of Eameses III., B.C. 1297, representing that monarch as having just assumed the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, whilst a priest in the regal procession is sending out four Pigeons to convey the news abroad, shewing that even then they were used for this purpose. The following observations respecting the ROCK DOVE. 19 latest performances of the Homing Pigeon will, therefore, be read with interest ; especially as they proceed from that great authority, Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, the originator of the recent utilization of this variety by the Trinity House : — " The variation of the Rock Dove in a state of domestica- tion is capable of being carried out to a very remarkable degree by careful selection of brood-stock. Not only can the colours of the original species be varied, or even their arrangement reversed, but strange modifications can be per- petuated ; such as the production of frills or hoods, and an increase in the number of the tail-feathers, varying from the normal twelve up to forty. Structural alterations are also effected, as in the rounded head of the short-faced Tumbler, or the elongated beak of the fancy Carrier. The latter breed is frequently confounded with the Homing or Voya- geur Pigeon, which is only altered from the wild original by a larger cerebral development, greater size and muscular power, and an extraordinary increase in the breadth of the primary flight-feathers of the wing. " Careful training, and breeding from the best specimens, have greatly increased the faculty that these Homing birds have for returning to their lofts from long distances. The system of beginning with a few miles, and increasing until fifty and even a hundred miles are taken at a stage, causes the loss of the weaker and the less intelligent birds, and the perpetuation of the best of the race. The result has been remarkable. Some thirty years since it was rarely the case that in the Belgian pigeon-races of 300 miles, even a few birds returned home on the day of their liberation, but now it is unusual, in good weather, for any of the prizes in a 500 miles race, not to be won on the very same day that the birds are flown. Thus in the great Belgian national race of the present year (1882), which took place from Morcenx, south of Bordeaux, to Brussels, a distance of 510 miles, 1,674 birds were liberated at 4.12 a.m., the wind being S.W., and the weather clear, the first bird reached home at 4.37 P.M. ; his speed having been about 1,300 yards per minute. One hundred and fifty-five birds were back the 20 COLUMBIDiE. same day, and the match was over early next day, when the winner of the two hundred and eighth, or last prize, was sent to the club for identification. The return of these birds is not unfrequently spoken of as a peculiar manifestation of instinct, but it depends upon observation and power of flight ; and the best bred birds will be lost if they are taken untrained 100 miles from home. In this island, where the cloudier state of the atmosphere interferes greatly with the view of the birds, distances equal to those on the Continent have not been accomplished, but races are regularly organized, and this year several have been successfully flown from Cherbourg, Arras, St. Queutin, &c., to all parts of England. " The utilization of Homing pigeons in the conveyance of letters microscopically reduced, from Tours to Paris during the siege of 1870-71, is well known ; and birds are now reared by both Germans and French in all those fortresses which are liable to be beleaguered in time of war. In England the Trinity House have utilized them in carrying messages from the light-ships, and they are also being employed by the Government on some of the Indian stations." .-^ COLUMB.E. TURTLE DOVE. 21 COLVMBID.F,. TuRTUR COMMUNIS, Selby.* THE TURTLE DOVE. Columha turtiir. TuRTUR, Selbyf. — Bill nithcr slender, the tip of the upper mandible gently deflected, that of the lower scarcely exhibiting the appearance of an angle : base of the upper mandible covered with two soft, tumid, bare substances covering the * Naturalist's Library, Ornithology, vol. v. pp. 153 and 171 (1835). t Tom. ell. p. 169. 22 COLUMBID^. nostrils. Tarsi rather shorter than the middle toe ; inner toe longer than the outer. Tail, of twelve feathers, rather long and considerably rounded or graduated. Wings rather long and pointed, the first quill a little shorter than the second, which is the longest. The Turtle Dove is onl}' a summer-A-isitant to the British Islands, arriving in the southern districts about the end of April or beginning of May, according to the nature of the season. Owing to the great increase of conditions suitable to their habits, these birds are both more numerous and far more widely distributed than in former years. They frequent woods, fir plantations, and high thick hedges dividing arable land, and in such situations they make a flat nest of a few twigs, frequently so slight as to seem incapable of retaining the eggs. Its elevation varies considerably : sometimes it is not more than four feet from the ground ; the average distance is about twelve ; and it has been found at least forty feet up, on the top of a pine in a shrubbery. The eggs, deposited from the iniddle of May onwards, are, as usual, two in number, of a glossy creamy white, rather pointed at one end, and measure about 1*2 by -9 in. The parent birds take turns in the task of incubation, which lasts a fortnight, and, sometimes at least, two broods are reared in the season, Mr. Cecil Smith having shot a bird on the 1st September which could only have just left the nest. They are partial to grain, pulse, and seeds of various sorts, and, like other members of the family, they drink regularly. Their flight is rapid and, amongst trees, remarkably tortuous. The note is a low plaintive coo, uttered more especially by the male, and the pleasure exj^erienced by the lover of nature on hearing this harbinger of returning summer is second only to that caused by the earlier note of the Cuckoo. Being somewhat suscep- tible to cold, the majority of the Turtle Doves take their departure for southern climes in September ; but in sheltered situations, and especially in southern counties, some remain considerably later, and an example has even been obtained as late as 18th November. The Report of the Committee of the British Association on the Migration of Birds in 1880, shews that fifteen struck the Casquets lighthouse between TURTLE DOVE. 23 10 P.M. and 3 a.m. on September 7tli-8th. In the autumn, young and old birds may be found in small flocks upon the stubbles and among the root-crops, and are at that time decidedly beneficial to the agriculturist by devouring the seeds of numerous weeds. In Cornwall it appears to be a somewhat irregular visitant, nor is it very common in Devon, but in the other southern counties, and up to Lincoln, it may be described as generally distributed, and breeding where the nature of the country is suitable to it. Shropshire, especially between Shrewsbury and Ludlow, seems to be a favourite district ; and Mr. Eyton says that it is known there by the name of the Wrekin Dove. In western Wales it is rare, but it occurs in Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. As a rule, however, to the north of the line of Sheflfield it can only be considered as a straggler on migration ; but it has recently been known to breed in Durham, although not as yet in Northumberland, The last remark applies to Scotland, although it has occurred in many counties, especially in those on the western side of the kingdom : on migration it also strays to the Hebrides, to the Orkneys, and to the Shetlands. In some of the wooded parts of Ireland it is generally distributed, but in the western districts it was formerly unknown, and notwithstanding the increase of larch and other plantations, Mr. R. Warren has only observed three specimens in Mayo and Sligo within the last twenty years. A straggler to the Faeroes, it occurs throughout a great part of Scandinavia, and even at such an elevation as Quickjok, although somewhat rare and local in Denmark. Throughout Central and Southern Europe it is found from spring to autumn, being especially abundant in the south at the epochs of migration ; in South Russia it occurs in large flocks ; it abounds in Asia Minor, Palestine and Persia, chiefly on passage, and was obtained by Dr. Henderson in Yarkand. In Turkestan, South-western Siberia, and India it is represented by T. ferrago, Eversmann, in which the tips of the feathers on the side of the neck are slate-grey and not' white ; and eastwards, again, the latter species is 24 COLUMBID.E. replaced by T. orientalis. South of the line of the Medi- terranean, it occurs at Madeira and in the Canaries, and is found throughout Northern Africa to Egypt, where Captain Shelley says that it breeds : its representative, T. isahel- linus, which is also a migrant, being, however, the more abundant species there. Von Heugliu met with T. com- munis in the Dahlak archipelago, in the Red Sea, and on the shores of the Tzana Lake in Abyssinia (12° N. lat.), at an elevation of over 6,000 feet, during the month of May. The adult male in summer has the beak brown ; the irides reddish-brown ; bare skin about the eye red ; crown, nape, and hind neck bluish-ash, inclining to brown ; on the lower part of the side of the neck are several rows of black feathers broadly margined with white ; scapulars, back and rump ash-brown, with darker centres to each feather; the larger and the external smaller wing-coverts dull grey ; the remainder with the tertials cinnamon-brown with dark centres ; quill-feathers clove-brown ; upper tail-coverts and the two central tail-feathers clove-brown ; the other tail- feathers lead-grey broadly tipped with white, which runs up the whole outer webs of the two exterior feathers ; chin nearly white, neck and breast pale vinous ; belly, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; under surface of the tail-feathers black with broad white tips, as on the upper surface ; under wing-coverts and flanks bluish-grey ; tarsi and feet red ; claws dark brown. The whole length is about eleven inches and a half: from the carpal joint to the end of the wing seven inches ; the second quill-feather a shade longer than the first, which again is longer than the third. The colours in the female are less bright and pure than those of the male, and she is rather smaller in size. In young birds, prior to the autumnal moult, the general colour of the head and body is hair-brown ; the back rather darker than the side of the neck, on which there are no black and white feathers ; the wing-coverts tipped with bufiy-white ; the quill-feathers slightly tinged on their outer edges with rufous ; belly and under tail-coverts white ; flanks TURTLE DOVE. 25 bluish-grey ; tail-feathers above hair-brown, on the under surface blackish-brown : the outer feathers on each side with the external web, and the next two with the ends, white ; tarsi and feet brown. Early in September the vinous tint is assumed on the neck and breast, and the black and white feathers which form the half collar begin to make their appearance. The upper figure in the engraving at the head of this subject represents an adult bird ; the lower figure was taken from a young bird of the year. The vignette represents in outline the form of the breast-bone of this species, of the natural size. VOL. III. COLUMBID.E. COLUMBIDjE. ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS (LinUffiUS*). THE PASSENGER PIGEON. Ectojnstes migratorius. EcTOPisTES, Swainsonf. Bill small, slender and notched. Wings rather elongated, pointed ; the second feather longest. Tail very long and extremely cuneate. Tarsi very short, half-covered anteriorly by feathers; anterior scales imbricate ; lateral scales small and i-eticulate. The American Passenger Pigeon was included in the first Edition of this work on the strength of the occurrence of a single specimen recorded by Dr. Fleming in his ' History of British Animals,' p. 145, as having been " shot while perched on a wall in the neighbourhood of a pigeon-house, * Columba migratoria, Linnajus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 285 (1766). t Zoological Journal, iii. p. 362 (1827). PASSENGER PIGEON. 27 at Westhall in the parish of Mouymeal, Fifeshire, the 31st of December, 1825. The feathers were quite fresh and entire, Hke those of a wild bird." To this in the 2ad and 3rd Editions was added the record of another, which was sent to Mr. John Norman, of Ro^^ston, for preservation, the follow- ing notice of the occurrence being contributed b}' Mr. Hale Wortham. This bird (now in the Saffron Walden Museum) was obtained between Royston and Chishill, early in the month of July, 1844, by the sons of the tenant of the farm called Known' s Folly, about two miles east of Royston. When the lads first saw the bird it appeared so much exhausted that they could have knocked it down with a pole, if they had had one; they, however, fetched a gun and shot it. When examined the crop was quite empty, but in the stomach there were some few seeds, resembling cole-seed, and a few small stones, but no barley or any traces of artificial food. The plumage was perfect, and neither the wings, the tail, nor the legs exhibited any sign that the bird had been in confinement. Of the correctness of the identification of these two exam- ples there can be no question ; but it will be observed that in neither case does the date of the occurrence corre- spond with that of the usual periods of migration. More- over, although there is no proof that Passenger Pigeons were brought over to this country prior to 1825, yet Audubon states that in March, 1830, he bought about 350 of these birds in the market of New York, and carried most of them alive to England, distributing them amongst several noble- men (Orn. Biog. i. p. 326) ; thus shewing that there was then no difficulty in bringing them over ; and, as a matter of fact, they have subsequently been imported with frequency. The next instance is recorded by Thompson in the ' Birds of Ireland,' iii. p. 443, in which he quotes the following letter from Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald, Junr., writing from Tralee in July 1850 : — " I had in my possession, about two years ago, a Passenger Pigeon which was caught near this town when unable to fly from fatigue. From this circumstance there can, I think, be no doubt that it came direct from America, as a bird of its powers of flight would not have 28 COLUMBID^. been exhausted unless it came from some very great distance. It never became tame, though I had it in confinement for about two years, at first alone, and afterwards in comj)any with other pigeons. It would walk backwards and forwards in a very shy manner when any one looked at it, and always avoided the other birds." Thompson adds : " The account of this individual leads one to believe that it may have crossed the Atlantic." The fourth example is recorded in a note by Lord Binning in TurnbuU's ' Birds of East Lothian,' p. 41 (1867), as being in the collection of Lord Haddington, who shot it at Mellerstain in Berwickshire ; adding that a gentleman in that county was known to have turned out several Pas- senger Pigeons shortly before this one was shot, and it was rather remarkable that nothing was heard of the others. A supposed Passenger Pigeon was recorded in ' The Field,' September 11th, 1869, as having been shot near Melbourne, in Derbyshire, but the bird was not preserved. The latest undoubted occurrence is that of an example shot nearMulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, by Lord Harry Phipps, and examined in the flesh on 13th October, 1876, by Mr. John Hancock, who, in the ' Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Durham,' v. p. 338, described it as follows : — " The quill- feathers in the wings were much worn and broken, and in the forehead above the bill they are apparently worn off to the skull, as though the bird had been trying to get out of a cage or some other enclosure ; therefore I cannot come to any other conclusion than that this specimen, a female, had made its escape from confinement." There is no authentic record of the occurrence of the Passenger Pigeon on the Continent of Europe ; or even on Heligoland, famed for its attractiveness to American strag- glers. As regards two at least of the above examples obtained in the British Islands, there seems to be a strong probability that they were birds which had acquired their freedom ; but with regard to the others, it may be borne in mind that this species is capable of long-continued flights, and is known to pass over a great extent of country with a PASSENGER PIGEON. 29 rapidity wliich Audubon estimated as at least a mile a minute. Passenger Pigeons are frequently captured in the State of New York with their crops still filled with the undigested grains of rice that must have been taken in the distant fields of Georgia and South Carolina, apparently proving that they had passed over the intervening space within a few hours. After weighing these facts, it has been deemed advisable on the whole to retain this species in the present Edition. This beautiful Pigeon is found throughout North America from the Atlantic to the great Central Plains, to the west of which its food supply is limited, and its presence correspond- ingly restricted : it has, however, been recently obtained on the Pacific slopes, and in Nevada. Northwards it was observed on the Mackenzie Pdver as high as 65°, whilst on the coast of Hudson's Bay it only reached 58°, even in warm summers : as a straggler, however, a young male bird is recorded by Sir James Ross as having flown on board the Victorii during a storm, whilst crossing Baffin's Bay in latitude l^ N., on the 31st July, 1829. In the Southern States it is of comparatively rare occurrence, but it has been found breeding down to 32° N. in Mississippi ; as a straggler it has visited Cuba, and, perhaps, the Bermudas. Considera- tions of food, and not of temperature, mainly influence its migrations, for large columns frequently move northwards early in March with 20° of frost. Graphic accounts of its migrations, and its immense breeding communities, will be found in the ornithological works of Audubon, Wilson, and, for more recent information, the ' History of North American Birds,' by Messrs. Baird, Brewer and RidgT,\'ay, may be con- sulted. Its food consists largely of the service-berry {Ame- lanchier alnifolia), acorns and beech-mast, and as soon as the supply becomes exhausted, the immense flocks suddenly disappear, and do not return for a long period. The nest is composed of a few dried twigs laid crosswise, and eggs may be found by the middle of March. It has been stated that only one egg is laid, but subsequent expe- rience has shown that, as with other Pigeons, two is the 30 COLUMBID^. usual number : they are white, of an oval shape, and average 1*5 in length by 1"1 in breadth. Incubation lasts sixteen days, the male taking turns with the female. An account of the breeding of the Passenger Pigeon in the Zoological Gardens will be found in the Proceedings of the Society for 1833, p. 10, and other similar instances are on record. In the adult male the beak is black; head, back of the neck, wing-coverts, back, and upper tail-coverts bluish-grey ; sides of the neck reddish-chestnut, richly glossed with metallic gold and violet ; scapulars, tertials, and middle of back olive-brown ; primaries lead-grey with lighter coloured outer margins, the shafts black ; the tail, of twelve feathers, long, cuneiform ; the four middle tail-feathers the longest, lanceolate and pointed ; the outer four on each side gradu- ated ; the middle pair dark brown ; the rest pearl-grey on the outer web, white internally, each with a patch of reddish-brown at the base of the inner web, followed by another of black ; chin bluish-grey ; throat and breast pur- plish-chestnut, becoming violet on the belly and flanks ; vent and under tail-coverts white ; legs and feet red. Total length seventeen inches ; wing eight inches and a half. The female is smaller, and much duller in colour ; beneath, pale ash instead of chestnut, except a tinge on the neck. Young birds have most of the feathers of the head and body margined with dirty white. SAND-GROUSE. PTEROCLETES. 31 PTEUOCLIDJL. V. Syrrhaptes paradoxus (Pallas).* PALLAS'S SAND-GEOUSE. Syrrhaptes, IlUfjer.\ — Bill small, gradually decurved from the base to the point ; nostrils basal, hidden in the feathers ; wings very long, pointed, the first primary longest ; tail, of sixteen feather.", cuneate ; the two central ones long and tapering ; tarsi very short and strong, covered with downy feathers to the toes, which are three in number, all in front, and united by a membrane as far as the claws ; hallux obsolete ; soles rugous ; claws broad and obtuse. In the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1882, pp. 312-332, Dr. Hans Gaclow has recently published the results of a careful examination into the affinities of the Pteroclidce, with special reference to the opinion expressed * Tetrao paradoxa, Pallas, Rcise Russ. Reichs, ii., App. p. 712, Tab. V. (1773). t lUiger, Prodromus, p. 243 (1811). 32 PTEROCLIDiE. by the late Professor Garrod (P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 249-259), that they must certainly be 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 Tetraonichn and with the Plovers. Putting aside minor points, the principal features may be briefly summed up as follows : — The nestling- plumage of the Sand-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. The suppression of the hind toe, characteristic of Syrrlmptes, does not occur in Pigeons or Fowls, but it is a common feature in Plovers. Unlike the majority of the Columlxe, the Pterocliche possess a gall-bladder ; and in the great development of the casca, they differ from the Columhidfe, and resemble the GalUnce. Their mode of drinking is entirely different from that of the Pigeons ; their flight is rapid and Plover-like, without any of the gliding or soaring motion characteristic of Pigeons; their note is certainly unlike a coo ,- 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 number, and white. On the other hand, the Sand-grouse resemble those genera of Pigeons which possess an oil-gland, in having it naked : and not tufted as in the Fowls and Plovers ; the skull and wing-bones are Columbine, and in their myology also the Sand-grouse arc more nearly allied to the Pigeons than to any other grouj:*. After much consideration the Editor thinks it advisable to adopt for the Sand-grouse the separate Order to which Pro- fessor Huxley gave the name of Pteroclomorphce,^' subse- quently modified by Mr. P. L. Sclater to Ptcr Deletes. ■\ No event in the annals of ornithology has excited more * P. Z. S. 1868, p. 303. t Ibis, 1880, p. 407. SAND-GROUSE. 33 interest than the irruption of PaUas's Sand-grouse, which commenced, so far as regards the British IsLands, in 1859, and attained its maximum in 1863. The history of the visitation has heen admirably narrated by Professor Newton (Ibis, 1864, j)p. 185-222) : details as regards the eastern counties being subsequently furnished by Mr. H. Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, i. pp. 376-404) ; 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, 1859, at Walpole St. 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 * Ibis ' (1859, p. 472), by the Ptev. 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, at 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 ' (1860, pp. 105-110), illustrated by one of Mr. Joseph Wolf's admirable plates. In November, 1859, Mr. George Jell, of Lydd, in Kent, preserved a specimen for Mr. Simmons, of East Peckham, near Tunbridge, 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 year, a pair appear to have been obtained at Wilna, in Western Russia, in May ; a third example was at Hobro, in Jutland ; and a fourth, one of a pair which had haunted the sandhills near Zandvoort, in Holland, since July, was shot there in October. In 1860, one was obtained at Sarepta, on the Lower Volga. In 1863 came the great invasion, extending westwards to Naran, on the coast of Donegal. To understand it, allusion must first be made to a portion of its course on the conti- VOL. III. F 34 PTEROCLID^. nent. The most eastern, and also the most northern locality of which there is any record, as regards this migration, is Archangel ; a specimen in the Museum of that town being recorded by Messrs. Alston and Harvie- Brown,* another being in a private collection there ; and a specimen was also obtained at Moscow, f The earliest date that can be given with precision is the 6th of May, at Skolonitz, in Moravia. By the 21st of May Heligoland was reached, and the same day the first British examples of that year, two males and one female, were shot out of a flock of fourteen, at Thropton, in Northumberland. The next day birds had reached Eccleshall, in Stafi"ordshire, where two were shot out of a flock of about twenty ; and from that date onwards the records become numerous. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the exact localities and details of each capture, so carefully worked out by Professor Newton and Mr. Stevenson ; and it will be sufficient to say that in Norfolk and Suffolk seventy-five birds were obtained, a number far exceeding that obtained in any equal area. The most interesting of these instances was that of a slightly wounded bird which was taken alive near Elveden, and sent by Professor Newton to the London Zoological Gardens, where it lived for some time. In Lincolnshire several were obtained in May ; and early in December about twenty were shot out of a flock numbering between forty and fifty ; many more, however, are believed to have been eaten or destroyed in ignorance of their rarity.! In Yorkshire about twenty-four examples were killed ; and in Durham and Northumberland about twenty-six. On the eastern side of Scotland birds were obtained : in Hadding- tonshire, where, besides the slain, one was kept alive by Lord Haddington ; in Forfarshire, seven or eight examples ; in Perthshire, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Elgin, Caithness, and Sutherland ; even on Unst, the northernmost of the Shet- lands, an example was obtained on 4th November, out of a small flock ; and one also on Benbecula, in the Outer • Ibis, 1873, p. C6. f Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. p. 77. i Cordeaux, Birds of the Huiiiber District, p. 80. SAND-GROUSE. 35 Hebrides,* on October 13th. In the south, before the end of June, Sand-grouse had visited the flat shores of Essex, Kent, and Sussex ; the sands of Slapton, in South Devon ; the Land's End, and St. Agnes, Scilly Islands. At Heanton, in North Devon, a survivor was obtained in December ;-and at Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, another, which was seen in the flesh by the late Mr. Gould, was obtained 8th Feb- ruary, 1864; the latest date for these islands. Eccleshall, in Stafi'ordshire ; Oswestry ; the sandy coasts of Cheshire and Lancashire ; Penrith, in Cumberland, were visited ; and then, after a considerable interval, Sand-grouse turned up again in Renfrewshire and Stirling. Inland they occurred in various localities : on the flats of Cambridgeshire, the sandy heaths of Aldershot, and even so near the metropolis as Barnet. In Ireland examples were killed at Pioss ; and at Drumbeg and Naran, both in co. Donegal ; the latter being the most western locality on record. Judging from the materials available, it would appear that a large majority were obtained from May 21st onwards to the end of June, by which time the awakened and widely-spread interest in the new visitants, taking its usual forms of persecution and extermination, had done its worst. Some may have sought refuge on the continent, which they had left ; but, at all events, by the middle of November they had disappeared from the favoured counties of Norfolk and Sufiblk. In the remote and scantily peopled districts of the wild West a few individuals lingered throughout the autumn and winter ; but even there, by February 1864, the last of the invaders of 18G3 had succumbed. The birds which arrived on our shores formed, however, but a portion of a far larger eastern horde, the main body of which, in all probability, never reached the British Islands. The meagre information as to their occurrence in Russia has already been given. From Galicia, on the 6th of May, the Sand-grouse pressed onwards to Pesth, Vienna, and other Austrian localities ; the outlying wing of the army sending forth its stragglers as far south as Rimini, on the Adriatic ; * R. Gray, Birds of the West of Scotlaml, ]>. 230. 36 PTEROCLID^. Belluno and Novara, iu Northern Italy ; Perjiignan at the eastern, and Bayonne at the western extremities of the Pyrenean chain. In France, according to Degland and Gerbe, they were found all over the basins of the Seine, the Loire, the Gironde, and the Khone, reaching as far as the shores of the Atlantic, where the date of the last capture, at Sables d'Oloune, iu Vendee, in February 18G4, coincides with that of the last and one of the most western of the occurrences in England. In the Baltic they occurred both on the southern shores, and as far as Nykoping, in Sweden ; whilst examples were obtained in Norway up to 62° N. lat. ; and a flock even reached the distant Faeroes in May. The main body appears to have swept through Germany as far as the North Sea, and finding the sandhills of the coasts of Denmark, Holland, and Belgium suited to their habits, they took up their abode there iu considerable numbers. The dunes of Zandvoort, already visited by a pair in 1859, again attracted several bands, and at least one clutch of eggs was taken ; but it was in Denmark that the most interest- ing details were obtained, and the following abstract of a paper by Professor Pieinhardt, of Copenhagen, is furnished by Professor Newton : — "Early in June last, Herr Bulow, an officer in the Custom-house at Piingkjobing, sent the Professor several living birds which had been snared by a gunner on their nests in the above-mentioned district, together with four of their eggs. One of the latter was found by Herr Bulow iu the box which conveyed the birds, having been laid on the journey. It was colourless, indicating that it had been prematurely produced. The other three eggs were fully coloured. It appears that this gunner found two nests of Syrrliaptcs in his own neighbourhood, and a third at a place called Bierregaard. On two of the nests both the birds (in each case the hens first and then the cocks) were caught, on the 6tli June. These nests were near one another ; and one, containing three eggs, consisted of a slight depression in the sand, lined with a little dry marram. The other had only two eggs, was j^laccd among some ling, and furnished SAND-GROUSE. 37 in a like manner. The third nest was similar to the first, and was half-way up a sandhill. Of the three eggs sent to Herr Bulow, he found that two were quite fresh, hut in the third the foetus had hegun to form, shewing that they had been taken from difterent nests. Some more nests were found by other people, but unfortunately none of them were taken care of. The gunner, at Herr Bulow's request, made further search, but not until the 27th of July did he suc- ceed in making any new discoveries. On that day he met with a flock of about a dozen birds, of which he shot two. He then went again to Bierregaard, where at last he put a bird off its nest among some stones in the sand, and con- taining three eggs. Next day he returned to it, set a snare, in which, after two or three hours, the hen-bird was caught ; and a few hours later he procured the cock in the same way. In the inteiwal he found, to his surprise, that one of the eggs had hatched. He took away with him the pair of old birds, the newly-born chick, and the remaining two eggs, which, on getting home, he put in a box of wool by the fire, where a second egg was hatched. The third proved to be rotten. The chicks only lived one day, and it seems they were not preserved. On that same day (the 28th), while waiting about for these birds to be caught, he stumbled on another nest, from which he shot both the owners." Eeturning to the subject of migration : the Sand-grouse visited Heligoland, where about thirty-five were shot in May and June, and a few in autumn, when they also occurred at Norderney ; Borkhum in May and June, and again on their return, in September. The last recorded individual of this invasion was obtained alive, having flow-n against the telegraph wires in June 1864, near Plauen, in Saxony, and was sent to the Zoological Gardens in Dresden."" Mr. Dresser states that about twenty were said to have been seen in that year, and three of them shot at Brody, Galicia ; but this record may possibly refer to the occurrence in previous years already cited. As regards the numbers of this invasion, it is undoubted that a very large proportion passed unrecorded, even in the * E. Opel, Jouruiil fur Oruithologie, 1864, p. 312. 38 PTEROCLID^. British Islands ; and, wbeu writing in 1864, Professor Newton considered that the total could be set down as under 700 ; an estimate which is probably a very moderate one, especiall}' when the number of birds taken and eaten in France is considered. In 1872 a small flock of Sand-grouse were reported to have frequented the coast of Northumberland, opposite the Fern Islands, from the end of May to 6th June ; but a bird which was at first stated to have been shot, proved, on enquiry, to have got away.* On 25th and 29th June four birds of this species were described as having been seen near Girvan, Ayrshire ; f but there is no confirmatory record of similar occurrences in other parts of the British Islands or on the Continent. On 4th May, 1876, a solitary example, obtained near Modena, in Italy, might have been expected to prove the precursor of another invasion ; but no further arrivals either on the Continent or in Britain appear to have been recorded until, on the 4th of October of that same year, a male and female were shot near Kilcock, co. Kildare, Ireland ; a notice both of the occurrence and of the places where the specimens might be inspected, being published in ' The Field ' of 14th October, by Mr. W. N. Coates. With these stragglers the list of visitants closes for the present. Essentially a native of the Asiatic stei)pes, this species was first made known to Pallas as an inhabitant of those Kirghiz plains whose western boundary is the Caspian Sea. A straggler across the political frontier between Asia and Europe, reached Sarepta on the Lower Volga in the winter of 1848, and, coming under the notice of the Moravian settlement there, Herr Moschler enrolled this species in his list in 1853 as a very rare European bird. It is probable that our visitors came from this western extremity of their range. Henke (Ibis 1882, p. 220) says that Sand-grouse are occasionally found near Astrakhan in winter; and in 1876 great numbers bred on the Kirghiz steppes, where the * J, Hancock, N. H. Tr. Northum. aaJ Durham, vi. p. 87. t 1{. Gray, Ibis, 1872, \>. 335. SAND-GROUSE. 39 nomads told him that they had not previously ohsei-ved them. Eastwards, Pallas's Sand-grouse is found throughout the sandy wastes of Turkestan to Samarcand ; throughout the Kirghiz steppes to Lake Balkash ; in the deserts at the foot of the Tian Shan range ; and in both the steppes and the deserts of Mongolia, and in the basin of the Tarei-nor. Colonel Prjevalsky * states that in summer it goes north even beyond the shores of Lake Baikal, where it breeds ; spending the winter in those parts of the Gobi Desert which are free from snow, and in Ala-shan, where it is met with from October onwards in flocks of several thousands. Some winter in the Hoang-ho Valley in South-east Mongolia, and during severe weather the plains between Tien-sin and Pekin and of the Pechili are covered with them ; the natives, who call them "Sha-chee," taking numbers of them with nets.f Southwards, this species extends to Koko-nor and Tsaidam, but it does not ascend to Kansu or Northern Thibet, being there replaced by the only other known species of the genus, Si/rrhajHes thibetanus,2Ji inhabitant of much greater altitudes. These enormous flocks feed largely on the seeds of Afirio- phylhnn gohiciirii, so that the number of wintering birds depends on the supply of that food, although they occasion- ally feed on other seeds and berries. Li the crops of some of those killed in Norfolk only the seeds of plants proper to the sandy coast were found, without any trace of animal or mixed food ; the gizzards containing an enormous quantity of small stones and sand. They drink several times a day, preferring fresh to brackish water. Most observers agree in describing the flight of this Sand- grouse as much resembling in its style and rapidity that of the Golden Plover. Prjevalsky says that when a large flock is on the wing, the noise is like the sighing of the wind and can be heard at a considerable distance. In the air the male birds utter a peculiar note, like " truck-turuk, truck-turiik," especially when in small flocks. Prjevalsky states that the complement of eggs is three, which is the usual number with other Sand-grouse. In the * In Rowley's Miscellany, pt. ix. p. 382. t Swinlioe, Ibis, 1861, p. 341. 40 PTEROCLID^. beginning of June be found in Ala-sban tbree nests witb tbree eggs in eacb, one set being quite fresb, tbe two otber sets very mucb incubated. It will be remembered tbat tbree was tbe largest number of eggs found in one clutcb in Denmark, and tbree is well known to be tbe complement of eggs witb otber members of tbe Pterodidce, Herr Radde, bowever, wbo bad excellent opportunities of observing tbis species in Dauria, and wbose detailed account is translated a little furtber on, says tbat "tbe eggs go up to four," altbougb it will be observed tbat be never mentions finding more tban tbree ; and in tbe frontispiece to tbe ' Reisen im Siiden von Ost-Sibirien,' Band ii., be figures a pair of birds by tbe side of a nest containing four eggs, Tliere may be some mistake in tbis, or it may point to anotber paradoxical cbaracter in tbis species, indicating a closer affinity to tbe Plovers tban is sbewn by tbe otber members of tbe order ; but, at all events, sucb a distinct assertion must not be passed over in silence. Tbe eggs are elliptical, stone-buff in colour, witb darker blotcbes of purple-l)rowu, and average 1"5 in lengtb by 1"1 in breadtb.* Tbe following is a translation of tbe full account given by Herr G-. Radde in bis above-cited work, pp. 292-294 : — " Tbe basin of tbe Tarei-nor, in Dauria, is situated in about 50° N. lat. and 116° E. long. Tbe nest is very simple, re- sembling tbose of tbe otber Sand-grouse, and several pairs, but never many, usually breed in company. In tbe salt- impregnated soil on tbe Tarei-nor, usually on tbe ground wbicb bas been dry for years, a sballow bollow about five incbes in diameter is scratcbed out, and tbe edge is lined witb a few salsola sboots and grasses ; but tbe latter are fre- quently absent. Eggs go up to four {i.e., do not exceed four). Sjirrh