594. BRITISH BIRDS. 
Macqueen’s Bustard does not appear to be a polygamous bird, but lives 
in pairs during the breeding-season. Respecting its habits during this 
interesting period nothing has been definitely recorded: whether it 
builds a nest, or merely lays its eggs in a hollow on the bare plain, those 
naturalists who have been on its breeding-grounds omit to say. Doubt- 
less in its nidification it resembles its close ally the African Bustard, 
whose nest is only a depression in the ground, with no lining. I have 
an egg of this bird in my collection which was obtained by ‘Tancre’s 
collectors on the Altai Mountains. It is buffish brown or rich stone- 
colour, sparingly blotched and spotted with surface-markings of. dark 
brown, and with paler underlying blotches of the same colour and dull 
grey ; the spots are evenly distributed over the entire surface, but none 
of them are very bold or decided. ‘This specimen measures 2°55 inch in 
length and 1°85 inch in breadth. The eggs of the African species some- 
what closely resemble that of Macqueen’s Bustard, but are a trifle less in 
bulk and paler in ground-colour, but the spots are quite as distinct. It 
will be noticed that the egg of the present species is a very distinct type 
from either of the other British Bustards, and more closely approaches 
that of the Plovers. 
Macqueen’s Bustard is a very silent bird. Hume writes:—“I have 
never heard this bird utter any sound, either when feeding undisturbed, or 
when suddenly flushed, or when wounded or seized, or about to be seized, 
by man or dog. Possibly, during the breeding-season, the males have 
some call.” It is only a winter visitor to India, where it usually makes 
its appearance early in September, and leaves again in March or early in 
April, according to the warmth of the weather. 
Macqueen’s Bustard is intermediate in size between the female Great 
Bustard and the Little Bustard. In the colour of its plumage it very 
closely resembles the male of the latter species, but the upper parts are 
still more finely vermiculated with black, and the vermiculations extend to 
all the wing-coverts and to the head and throat. The plumes on the head 
and neck are quite different ; those on the crown and nape are pale slate- 
grey, tipped with black; and the upper neck is furnished with black 
plumes, and the lower neck with white plumes on either side. Bull dark 
brown, paler at the base of the under mandible; legs, feet, and claws dark 
yellow ; irides yellow. The female is somewhat smaller than the male, but, 
unlike that of the Little Bustard, it does not otherwise differ from the male 
in its general appearance, except that the crest and neck-plumes are some- 
what less developed. Males in first plumage are said to resemble females, 
except in being larger. Winter plumage scarcely differs from that of 
summer. 
