136 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



than the other. The hen sits for a month, if she is not dis- 

 turhed, for, according to Hodgson, she is so suspicious that if 

 the eggs are found and handled she is sure to discover it, and 

 then herself to destroy them. 



The young are runners, like those of other bustards, and can 

 fly in a month; they stay near the mother, however, till, when 

 they are nearly a year old, she drives them off. As two hens 

 often breed together, and apparently pool their broods for 

 mutual protection, just as eider-ducks do, coveys, so to speak, 

 of half a dozen birds may be found, in contra-distinction to the 

 usual unsociable habits of this species. 



With the exception of the humming courting-song of the 

 florican, its only other note is the alarm call of "chik-chik," 

 shrill and metallic, but also uttered in a softer form when the 

 bird is at ease. 



The bird is often called " houbara" by sportsmen — quite mis- 

 takenly of course — for the houbara, though also a bustard, is 

 quite a different bird, haunting the desert tracts just where the 

 florican is not found. Variants of the Hindustani name are 

 Charat and Charj, and in many parts of the Terai the sexes 

 are distinguished by name, the male being Ahlak (pied), and 

 the hen Bor. In Assam the bird is the " grass peafowl," Uht 

 Mor of the natives. 



Lesser Florican. 



Sijpheotides auritus. Likh, Hindustani. 



Better known perhaps by its Hindustani name, this beauti- 

 ful little bustard is very distinct from all other birds. So long 

 in neck and leg is it that it looks like a miniature ostrich when 

 on foot ; its size is only a little larger than that of the common 

 partridge. On the wing it resembles a duck somewhat, having 

 a rapid flight and similar-sized wings to a duck's. 



The hen is of the same partridge-colour, a buff mottled with 

 brown, as the hen large florican; and the cock is, like that of 

 the large species, a black-and-white bird, with a partridge-brown 

 back, but his head and neck are closely feathered like the hen's, 



