862 Zoological Society : — 



6. Thamnophilus c^sius. 



Lanius ccesiuSy Cuv. in Mus. Paris. 



<? Nigro-plumheus ; pileo cristate gulaque nigris ; tectricibus 



alaribus anguste alba limbatis ; cauda nigricante unicolore ; 



rostra pedibusque nigris. 

 ? Grisescenti-brunnea, crista nigricante; capitis lateribus, tec- 



tricum alarum marginibus et corpore subtus rufis ; rostro nigro, 



mandibula inferiore basi et pedibus pallidis. 

 Long, tota 5*5, alse 3*25, caudse 2*25. 

 Hab. in Guiana Britannica. Mus. Parisiensi et P.L.S. 



March 13. — Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Notes on the Habits of some Indian Birds. Part VIII. 

 By Lieut. Burgess. 



Family Struthionid^. 

 Genus Otis. 

 Otis nigriceps (Vigors). Black-headed Bustard. 



This fine Bustard is found in flocks, varying in size, in the open 

 plains of the Deccan, preferring the dry grassy and stony grounds 

 to others. It grows to a large size ; one fine male which I measured 

 was 7 feet across the wings, and 46 inches from the tip of the beak 

 to the end of the tail. This Bustard may almost be said to breed 

 all the year round. I have had an egg brought to me in February, 

 another on the 4th May, containing a young bird. A gentleman on the 

 Revenue Survey told me that he had seen a young Bustard, covered 

 with down, in the early part of October. I have had a young bird 

 brought to me late in November, as well as eggs in November and 

 December. The female generally lays but one egg. A. F. Davidson, 

 Esq., Superintendent of the Ahmednuggur Revenue Survey, told 

 me a curious habit of the male Bustard. He says, "About breed- 

 ing time the male is fond of mounting some elevated spot, and then 

 strutting about with the tail erected and spread, the wings drooping, 

 and the pouch in the throat inflated with air, and looking like a 

 large bladder ; under the hillock where the male was thus displaying 

 himself were several young ones." In corroboration of this, a boy 

 told me on the 17th May 1850, that about four days previously he had 

 seen a Bustard, with a white-looking bag hanging below the neck. 

 I see in Dr. Jerdon's Catalogue, that he gives an extract from Mr. 

 Elliot's notes to this eff'ect ; speaking of the cock Bustard, he says ; 

 " He was strutting about on some high ground, expanding his tail, 

 ruffling his wings, and distending his neck and throat, making the 

 feathers stand out like a rufi^." I do not find it recorded that the 

 large Bustard of Europe (O. tarda) has this habit of showing him- 

 self ofl^ during the breeding season. The egg of the Black-headed 

 Bustard varies in size ; the one sent with this paper measures 3 j^ths 

 in. in length, by 2^ths in. in width. It also varies in colour ; the 



