12. ETTPODOTIS. 323 



Choriotis orabs, Bp. C. R. xliii. p. 41G (1856) ; Loche, Expl. Sci, 

 Algir,, Oil. ii. p. 256 (1867 : Algiers) ; Salvad. Ann. Mm. Genov. 

 (2) i. pp. 258, 273 (1884 : Shoa). 



Otis (Eupodotis) arabs, Blanf. Geol. Sf Zool. Abyss, p. 427 (1870 : 

 Rairo, 3000 feet). 



Adult male. General colour above sandy brown, minutely freckled 

 with blackish vermiculations ; upper tail-coverts like the back, but 

 a little more coarsely vermiculatcd and with an indistinct edging or 

 spot of white at the tip ; wing-coverts like the back, a little more 

 coarsely vermiculatcd and having triangular spots of white at the 

 ends, the median series broadly tipped with white, the greater series 

 also tipped with white and having the inner webs for the most 

 part white, the outer webs sandy brown vermiculated with blackish' 

 frecklings, which are more scattered on the inner web than the 

 outer, the latter having a subterminal shade of blackish brown or 

 bluish grey ; bastard-wing like the major coverts ; primary-coverts 

 brown with a bluish-grey shade, indistinctly freckled with sandy 

 buff and tipped Avith white ; quills blackish, with the greater part 

 of the inner web white on the inner primaries ; the secondaries 

 brown with a bluish-grey shade, tipped with white and crossed with 

 indistinct bars of white more or less broken up with dusky mottlings, 

 the white increasing in extent towards the inner secondaries, which 

 arc coloured lilce the back and freckled in the same mauner ; centre 

 tail-feathers sandy brown with coarse vermiculations of black, the 

 concealed basal half of the feathers banded with white, the remainder 

 of the under feathers for the most part white banded vnth. bluish 

 grey or brown near the base and having a broad subterminal band 

 of sandy brown, freckled with blackish lines and sometimes shaded 

 with greyish blue, the ends of the feathers white, before which is a 

 very distinct shade of black ; crown of head greyish white with 

 tine black frecklings, the sides of the crown bordered by a band of 

 black broadening out behind the level of the eye and meeting on 

 the nape, the posterior feathers of this band being elongated and 

 narrow, as also are the posterior greyish feathers of the crown ; lores 

 and a distinct eyebrow white, as also the feathers below the eye ; 

 sides of face, checks, throat, hind neck, and sides of neck, as well 

 as the fore neck, ashy white, distinctly banded with ashy blackish 

 everywhere except on the lower throat, where the cross markings 

 are finer ; car-coverts ashy white with obsolete dusky bars ; fore 

 part of cheeks and chin white ; remainder of under surface of body 

 from the fore neck downwards pure white ; under wing-covcrts 

 white, but distinctly varied with dusky cross bars ; axillarics pure 

 white ; quills below blackish, with an ashy-white quill-lining : 

 " bill horny buff, with the culmen duskj' ; feet ochrc-yellow : iris 

 yellowish urabcr-brown " (IlnKjUn). Total length about U6 inches, 

 culmon y-G, wing 23*2, tail 13, tarsus 7*9. 



Adult female. Similar to the male, but very much smaller. Total 

 length about 29 inches, culmen 3-1, wing 19, tail S"4, tarsus 5'5. 

 Hab. Northern and North-eastern Africa to Arabia. 



