VOL. x.j CORMORANT AND LITTLE BUSTARD. 213 



feathers on these parts, but in the early whiter the nuptial 

 dress begms to be gradually assumed, and the moustache, 

 chestnut chest-band, etc., are complete before the spring 

 approaches. 



The male of the Little Bustard is strikingly different 

 in winter and summer. In the winter it looks, on the 

 upper side, almost exactly like the female, but the breast 

 and abdomen are quite white, without black bars. This 

 winter-dress is assumed during the complete post-nuptial 

 moult. In the spring, chiefly in March and April, a second 

 but only partial moult takes place, affecting only the 

 whole head and neck, and apparently part of the back. 



Thus the weU-known lavender-grey, black-and-white 

 coloration of the nuptial dress is assumed. 



The adult female is alike at all seasons, having only the 

 one complete moult in summer and early autumn. 



Comparing western and eastern Little Bustards it 

 becomes evident that two forms can be distinguished, 

 as follows : — 



(1) Otis tetrax tetrax L. 

 Western Little Bustahd. 



Otis Tetrax Liniiaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. X., I., p. 154 (1758 — "Habitat 

 in Europa, imprimis in Gallia." Restricted terra typica therefore': 

 France). 



Upperside, especially on the upper wing-coverts, 

 lighter, more reddish sandy. Wings ^ 236-252, $ 245- 

 247 mm. 



Habitat : Resident in Tunisia, northern and middle 

 Algeria, Marocco, Spain, Portugal, the plains of Beauce, 

 Champagne, Brie and Vendee in France, north to the 

 fields between Chalons-sur Marne and Troyes. (The 

 Bustards which — more frequently during the last thirty 

 years — are occasionally seen in the Rhme districts, 

 most probably come from France, and therefore belong 

 to O. t. tetrax.*) 



* In The Zoologist, 190(i, p. 66, the Rev. C. W. Benson mentions 

 birds which he saw in the northern Aargau (Switzerland), which he 

 afterwards, when seeing stuffed specimens in Strassburg, believed 

 were Little Bustards '. Probably some error occurred, though it is 

 diflficult to see what he could have mistaken for young Bustards. 



