5^8 macqueen's bustard. 



Swedish island of Oeland, one (out of a flock of six) in Schleswig, 

 one in Poland, one in Silesia, one near Helsingfors in Finland, and 

 one in Livonia towards the end of September 1880. In Italy two 

 females were obtained near Rome in November and December 

 1859; but the species occasionally met with in Malta, Sicily, and 

 Southern Spain is the African Ruffed Bustard. In the Aralo- 

 Caspian region Macqueen's Bustard is resident, and eastward it can 

 be traced to the steppes near Lake Balkash and to the Altai 

 Mountains. On migration it crosses the Pamir to pass the cold 

 season in Northern India, where it appears in September and leaves 

 again in INIarch ; while in the semi-desert districts of Sirsa and 

 Kurrachi, in Sind, it is sometimes so abundant that fifty have fallen 

 to a single gun in a day. It is also found in Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 

 and in Persia it breeds along the Gulf of Oman. Both the above 

 species are generally known by the name " Houbara." 



Of late years a tolerable number of eggs have been received by 

 Herr Tancre from the vicinity of the Altai range (lat. 50° N.), in 

 the extreme south of the Russian province of Tomsk. All that I 

 have seen are olive-brown with darker blotches, and with less of a 

 greenish tinge than is found in some of those of the Great Bustard : 

 average measurements of 3 (a clutch) in the collection of Mr. E. 

 Bidwell 2 "5 5 by 17 in. Probably this species is not polygamous, 

 for Mr. Hume never observed any preponderance of females over 

 males. It frequents sandy wastes studded with low bushes, among 

 which it runs with great rapidity, feeding largely on the small fruits 

 of the Be?; the berries of the Grevia^ and young shoots of lemon- 

 grass, with a few grasshoppers or beetles. The specimen killed in 

 Lincolnshire had its crop filled with caterpillars of the yellow-under- 

 wing moth, small-shelled snails &c. 



The adult male has a crest of white feathers tipped with black, 

 and a ruff, which is chiefly black, on the sides of the neck ; upper 

 parts pale buff, finely vermiculated with black; tail washed with 

 rufous, crossed with three black bars, and tipped with white ; throat 

 pale grey ; breast bluish-grey ; abdomen white. Length 28 in. ; 

 wing 1 5 "5 in. The female is a little lighter in colour, and has the 

 crest and ruff less developed. In the African Ruffed Bustard, 

 O. undulaia, the ground-colour is more rufous, the vermiculations 

 are coarser, the tail is broadly crossed with five dark bars, and the 

 elongated feathers of the crest and lower throat are white. The 

 latter species occurs on Lanzarote, the nearest of the Canary Islands 

 to Africa. 



