392 Mr. A. L. Butler on the 



On the waterless red-sand country of Western Kordofan 

 — the home of Oryx leucoryx and Gazella ruficollis — I 

 repeatedly flushed a Black-bellied Bustard, which I am 

 inclined to think must have been Lissotis melanog aster. It 

 was conspicuously darker than this species, with the wings 

 almost entirely black and brown. On the same ground 

 I shot a West- African antelope^ Damaliscus korrigum. 



295. Eupodotis arabs (Linn.). 



This is the common large Bustard of the Soudan, and more 

 or less abundant throughout the country on suitable ground. 

 From Suakin on the east it extends right across to the 

 west of Kordofan and the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province ; I have 

 seen it as far north as the junction of the Atbara with the 

 Nile • I have met with it on the Sobat, but how far south it 

 extends on the Bahr-el-Jebel I do not know. 



It is, as a rule, very wary and difficult to approach, 

 affording capital stalking with a rifle; occasionally, however, 

 I have surprised it at close quarters in high cover, and had 

 no difficulty in killing it with a shot-gun. 



The following are the measurements of three specimens 

 shot by me at Gedarcf : — 



«(?). b(d). c(d). 

 in. in. in. 



Length 35 42 39 



Wing 20 25 25 



Tail 10| 1- 1-i 



Tarsus 6J 8 1\ 



Bill at gape Z\ 4 3| 



Expanse of wings 84 82 



Iris golden orange, paler externally ; bill yellowish white, 

 dusky along the culmen ; orbital skin yellowish Avhite ; legs 

 and feet the same. 



The male bird (c) weighed 18^ lbs. The heaviest bird of 

 which I have a note was shot at Suakin, and weighed 22 lbs. 



Capt. Cummins, R.A.M.C., wrote to me from Kassala that 

 the average weight of a cock bird was 15 or 16 lbs. 



I once saw one of these Bustards roosting on a bush at 

 nightfall. This is, I think, very unusual. It w;is on the 



