SYPHEOTIDES. ]01 



126. Sypheotides auritUS {Lalh.), yard, and Selhy, III. Orn. 

 pis. 49, 92 ; /*. C. 533 ; Jerd., B. Lid. iii. p. 619, No. 839; Hume, Nests and 

 Eggs Ind. B. p. 561 ; id. and Marsh., Game Birds i. p. 5, pi.; Murray, 

 Hdbk., Zool., Sj'C, Sind, p. 207 ; Sir. F. vol. iv. p. 10 ; id., Veri. Zool. Sind, 

 p. 22 1 ; id., Avif. Brit. Ind. ii. p. 578, No. 1249. {Likh, Sind.)— The 

 Lesser Floriken. 



Male. — Head, neck, breast, ear tufts and entire lower parts black, paler on 

 the vent and under tail coverts ; chin white, a few of the elongated feathers 

 under the chin white niesially ; lower part of hind neck and large wing patch 

 white ; back, scapulars and upper tail coverts fulvous, mottled with buff and dark 

 brown ; tail brighter buff, with mottlings and three distinct bands, the last 

 subtertninal ; first three or four primaries dark or dusky brown, the rest broadly 

 barred with rufous or bright buff, the long narrow tips mottled ; ear tufts 

 three on each side, the shafts of the feathers bare for nearly three-fourths their 

 length from their base. 



^\\Q female is pure buff throughout, clouded and barred with deep brown ; 

 lower part of the body almost white ; chin and throat white ; bill pale yellow, 

 the ridge and tip dusky brown ; irides yellow. 



Length,— i-] io 19 inches; wing 7 to y?> ; tail 4 to 4-5. Female slightly 

 larger. 



Hab. — Throughout India, from the base of the Himalayas to the southern- 

 most districts, not in Ceylon. It is found in Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, 

 Oudh, Bengal, Central and Southern India, Kutch, Kattiawar, Rajputana, 

 Concan and the Deccan during September and October. The majority 

 however breed from July to September. Eggs, 4—5 in number, greenish of 

 various shades in colour, everywhere pitted with minute pores, but smooth 

 and glossy. In Central and Western India it is most abundant during the 

 monsoon and during winter in Southern India.* In Bengal they are found 

 during the hot weather. Along the Malabar Coast, this Floriken occurs, but 

 very sparingly. It feeds in the early morning, when it may be easily flushed, 

 from the long grass or cotton and lentil fields which it affects. Like the flesh 

 of the Houbara and Bengal Floriken, its flesh is esteemed very delicious and 

 flavoursome. In Sind it occurs only in the vicinity of Kurrachee during 

 August and September, chiefly at Mulleer, affecting the high grass. It 

 breeds in the Deccan. In Sind a single q^^ was found on the Hubb plains by 

 Mr. F. C. Constable. 



Family, CURSORID.E,— Courier Plovers. 



Tarsi long, slender ; bill slender, arched beyond the nostrils, which are in a 

 short triangular groove ; wings long and pointed ; tail short of 1 2 feathers ; 

 toes three ; no hind toe. 



