ii6 Allen's naturalist's library. 



Lydekker from the Miocene of Bavaria. At present only 

 two representatives of the genus Otis are known, one being 

 the Otis tarda of Europe and Western Asia, which is 

 replaced by O. dyhowskii in Eastern Siberia and China. 

 All the Bustards have a wavy or freckled plumage, and 

 some of them have a largely developed shield of feathers 

 over the crop, composed of the elongated plumes of the 

 lower throat and fore-neck. To this section belongs Mac- 

 queen's Bustard, mentioned later. The True Bustards, how- 

 ever, have no such appendage, though the crop is of a bright 

 chestnut-colour, and is capable of being distended to an enor- 

 mous extent, when the bird "shows off" during the breeding 

 season. The " Great " Bustard is so called in contrast to the 

 "Little" Bustard {Tetrax tetrax)^\iM\. it is by no means the 

 largest of the Family, as there are several species which ex- 

 ceed Otis tarda in size. In the genus Otis there is no crest 

 on the nape or hind-neck, but no other genus possesses the 

 curious whisker-like plumes on the cheeks, which are so promi- 

 nent an ornament in O. tarda and its Asiatic ally. 



I. THE GREAT BUSTARD. OTIS TARDA. 



Otis tarda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 264 (1766); Macg. Brit. B. 

 iv. p. 30 (1852); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 369, pi. 508 

 (1872); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 153 (1883); Saunders, 

 ed. Yarr. Brit. B. iii. p. 193 (1884); Seebohm, Brit B. ii. 

 p. 581 (1884); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 509 (1889); 

 Lilford, Col Fig. Brit. B. part xxi. (1892); Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. xxxiii. p. 285 (1894). 

 {Plate LXXIV.) 

 Adult Male. — General colour above sandy-rufous, with broad 

 transverse bands of black, especially on the back and scapu- 

 lars ; the upper tail-coverts and tail similarly banded, but of 

 a lighter and more vinous-chestnut tint ; tail-feathers tipped 

 with white, the outer ones white at the base, and the three 

 outermost almost entirely white, with a broad sub-terminal 

 band of black ; lesser wing-coverts like the back, with some- 

 what wider black bars ; median and greater coverts, bastard- 

 wing, and primary-coverts white, powdered with grey towards 

 their ends ; quills brown, with white bases ; the primaries white- 

 shafted, and blackish at the tip and on the outer web ; second- 



