OTiDiDj;. 613 



Bill horny slate-color ; irides bright yellow ; legs greenish- 

 yellow. Length 25 to 30 inches ; extent 4 feet ; wing 14 to 15 

 inches ; tail 9 to 10 ; tarsus 3| ; bill at front 1|. Weight 3^ to 

 S^lbs. (Adams states the iris to be black, and the sclerotic yellow.) 

 The male in non-breeding or winter plumage, appears to want 

 the fine crest, and in some, apparently, the greater part of the 

 ruff, as in the one figured in Hardwicke's Illustrations. A 

 figure among Burnes' drawings represents the male bird with his 

 V coronal crest, but having the upper portion only of the neck-rufF, 

 which forms a conspicuous ear-tuft as in the Likh Florikin, but 

 of ordinary shaped feathers. Can the ruff' also be a seasonal 

 ornament of the Cock-bird? This is not alluded to in any of the 

 notices of the Indian Houbara that I have seen, but is not unlikely. 

 The female is said, by the writer of the article in the Bengal 

 Sporting 31agazine alluded to above, to resemble the male ; and a 

 specimen, supposed to be that of a female killed at Hansi, agreed, 

 says Mr. Blyth, " very well with Hardwicke's figure, except that 

 the mottled black patches on the upper parts are smaller, and more 

 numerous, and scarcely appear on the wings which should have 

 been colored paler ; the pencilling in front of the neck is very 

 delicate ; the tail is banded with light ashy (appearing blue) 

 slightly bordered with black. The coronal feathers are all, in the 

 mass, considerably lengthened, there is no indication whatever 

 of the medial crest ; the lower third of the lateral neck-tufts are 

 white, but the front of the neck, below the dull white throat, is 

 uniform pale buff, minutely freckled with black, and at its base are 

 some lengthened plumes of a pale ash color impending the breast." 

 Another specimen agrees nearly with the Hansi bird, but has 

 a slight crest, or apparently the remains of a crest in process of 

 bein^y shed, confined to the forehead only, and there are but few 

 traces of white upon the black or upper tuft of lateral neck 

 plumes. Mr. Blyth is inclined to regard the crest as a distinctive 

 characteristic of the breeding season only, when it would probably 

 be more developed in the male than in the female. 



I am strongly inclined to think that 0. marmorata, Gray, in 

 Hardwicke's Illustrations, is intended for the female in ordinary 

 attire. It has generally been considered as the female of Sypheo- 



