Taxidermy: A Pair of Late Victorian Pallas's Sand Grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), dated 22-6-1888, by Rowland Ward Ltd, "The Jungle", 166 Piccadilly, London, a pair of full mount adults, the male with head turning to the right stood upon a sanded rock mound, the female beside with head turning to the left, mounted upon sanded arid groundwork, enclosed beneath a period oval glass dome, with orignal supporting ebonised base, raised upon four squat feet, 42.5cm by 26cm by 46cm overall height, taxidermist's full paper trade label to underside, and hand written dated paper label. Pallas's Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) has one of the strangest histories of any British bird; several hundred individuals arrived in 1888, but it has since been an extremely rare visitor. For more information see “Queen of The Yellow Sands” by James Wright who covers the puzzling history of the Pallas' sandgrouse in Britain. One of the great unsolved mysteries of ornithology. The following is an extract “Even with the benefits to research of new technology, many of the mysteries of bird migration remain unsolved. Perhaps no species has proved more enigmatic than Pallas' sandgrouse, a native of many parts of Africa and Asia, but so rare in Britain. Yet rewind to the Victorian era when in three or four remarkable years, notably 1888, so many sandgrouse flew to our shores. What prompted these extraordinary irruptions? No one knows”