514 macqueen's bustard. 



one in Poland, one in Silesia, one near Helsingfors in Finland, 

 and one in Livonia towards the end of September t8So, the latest 

 occurrence on record. In Italy two females were obtained near 

 Rome in November and December 1859 ; but in Malta, Sicily, and 

 Southern Spain the bird occasionally met with is the African Ruffed 

 Bustard. In the Aralo-Caspian region Macqueen's Bustard is 

 resident, and eastward we trace it to the steppes near Lake Balkash 

 and to the Altai Mountains ; while on migration it crosses the Pamir 

 to pass the cold season in Northern India, where it appears in Sep- 

 tember and leaves again in March. In the semi-desert districts 

 of Sirsa and Kurrachi, in Sind, it is sometimes so abundant that 

 fifty have fallen to a single gun in a day. It is also found in 

 Afghanistan. r>aluchistan, and in Persia from the Gulf of Oman to 

 the Caspian. 



I am not aware of any published account of the nidification of 

 this Bustard, though of late years a tolerable number of eggs have 

 been received by Herr Tancre from the vicinity of the Altai range 

 (lat. 50° N.), in the extreme south of the Russian province of Tomsk. 

 All that I have seen are olive-brown with darker blotches, and with 

 less of a greenish tinge tlian is f(jund in some of those of the Great 

 Bustard : average measurements of 3 (a clutch) in the collection of Mr. 

 E. Bidwell 2-55 by I'y in. Probably this species is not polygamous, 

 for Mr. Hume never observed any preponderance of females over 

 males. It frequents sandy wastes studded with low bushes, among 

 which it runs with great rapidity, feeding largely on the small 

 fruits of the Ber, the berries of the Grevfa, and young shoots of 

 lemon-grass, with a few grasshoppers or beetles. The specimen 

 killed in Lincolnshire had its crop filled with caterpillars of the 

 yellow-underwing moih, small-shelled snails &c. 



The adult male has a crest of white feathers tipped with black, 

 and a ruff, which is chiefly black, on the sides of the neck ; upper 

 parts pale buff, finely vermiculated with black ; tail washed with 

 rufous, crossed with three black bars, and tipped with white ; throat 

 pale grey ; breast bluish-grey ; abdomen white. Length 26 in. ; 

 wing 1 5 '5 in. The female is a little lighter in colour, and has the 

 crest and ruff less developed. In the African Ruffed Bustard, 

 O. utidulata, the ground-colour is more rufous, the vermiculations 

 are coarser, the tail is broadly crossed with five dark bars, and the 

 elongated feathers of the crest and lower throat are white. The 

 latter species, it may be remarked, is common on Fuerteventura 

 and occurs on Lanzarote, the nearest of the Canary Islands to 

 Africa. 



