Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Pterocles orientalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Photo © By Andreas Trepte - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76366751
STATUS
South-west Eurasia and northern Africa. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1900 Derbyshire Near Ashbourne, three, seen, 12th May.
(F. C. R. Jourdain, Field 19th May 1900: 694).
[Not in BOU, 1971].
History F. C. R. Jourdain of Clifton Vicarage, Ashbourne (1900) in The Field of 19th May, Vol. XCV. p. 694, says: 'I am convinced that I saw three Sand Grouse on May 12 within a mile or so of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. If I am not mistaken they will probably be the forerunners of others. I have sent particulars to Professor Newton, but wish to acquaint you, as it may be worth while, if you receive confirmation, to issue a warning to British observers to be on the look out for them. Of course, the birds I saw may be only stragglers, but there is at least the possibility of another invasion.'
[A more useless piece of legislation than the Sand Grouse Protection Act, 1888, was probably never placed on the Statute Book. This Act (51 and 52 Vict., c. 55) was passed in December, 1888, and prohibited the killing of any Sand Grouse, under a penalty not exceeding £1, between Feb. 1, 1889, and Jan. 1, 1892. In other words, the Act was only to remain in force for three years, apparently to see how it would work; but inasmuch as it expressly provided that it was not to come into force until five weeks after it was passed, there was ample time for those wanted "specimens" to get them without infringing the law. This, of course, they did, with the result that there was soon no Sand Grouse to protect. As the three years close time has long since expired, though extended by the Expiring Laws Continuance Act to Dec. 31, 1897, it follows that, should a fresh incursion of these birds take place as above predicted, there will be no special law for their protection. - Ed.]
