124 ALLEN S naturalist's LIBRARY. 



with the same blackish shafts ; cheeks white, the fore-part 

 streaked with black shafts ; chin and upper throat white : sides 

 of neck black, commencing in a streak close behind the ear- 

 coverts and extending into a ruff of stiffened feathers, the basal 

 plumes black, the succeeding ones white, with broad black 

 tips, succeeded by a tuft of feathery white plumes ; lower 

 throat and fore-neck bluish-grey, the former obscured by 

 sandy-buff, slightly freckled with black ; the plumes of the fore- 

 neck elongated and bluish-grey, with white tips ; remainder of 

 under surface of body white, with some freckled feathers on 

 the sides of the upper breast, and some black cross-bars on 

 the under tail-coverts, all of the latter plumes with a concealed 

 tinge of pink at the base; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 pure white ; bill bluish or dusky above, paler, usually greenish 

 or yellowish, on the gape and lower mandible ; feet pale yellow, 

 never clean and bright, mostly with a dingy greenish or plum- 

 beous tinge, at times creamy ; iris varying from pale to bright 

 yellow. Total length, 28 inches; culmen, I'S ; wing, 157; 

 tail, 9*5 ; tarsus, 4-9. 



Adult Female. — Smaller than the male, with the crest and ruff 

 less developed, the freckling on the lower throat and fore-neck 

 rather coarser. Total length, 23 inches; culmen, 1-65 ; wing, 

 i6-o; tail, 7*0; tarsus, 37. 



Yonng Birds. — Resemble the old female, but always to be dis- 

 tinguished by the arrow-head markings of sandy-buff on the 

 upper surface. The grey on the fore-neck is obscured by 

 sandy frecklings, and the white primaries are deeply tinged 

 with sandy-buff. The frill is always much smaller, and only a 

 few elongated feathers represent the crest of the adults, these 

 plumes being coarsely freckled with black. 



Kange in Great Britain. — One of our rarest visitors, only two 

 examples being known to have occurred within our limits, one 

 having been killed near Kirton-in-Lindsey in Lincolnshire in 

 October, 1847, and another near Redcar in October, 1892. 



Eange outside the British Islands. — The breeding-place of Mac- 

 queen's Bustard appears to be the steppes of Central Asia as 

 far east as the Altai Mountains and the Baikal district. In 

 winter it is found in great abundance in North-western India 

 and Sind, and it also winters in Persia and Baluchistan, as far as 



