280 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Order LIMICOL^iil. 



Family OTIDID^. 



OTIS TARDA, Linnajus. 



GREAT BUSTARD. 



Otis tarda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 264 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 M'us. xxiii, p. 28-4 ; Malherbe, Faunc Orn. dc I'Alg. p. 28 (1855) ; Loche, 

 Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 247 (1867) ; Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 265 ; 

 id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 79 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1894, p. 99 ; id. Ibis, 1895, 

 p. 91. 



Description. — Adult male, from Spain. 



Head pale bluish-slate ; nape, neck and upper breast rufous ; upper 

 parts warm rufescent-buEf, barred with black ; primaries blackish ; secondaries 

 and upper wing-coverts chiefly white ; underparts below the neck and 

 upper breast white ; tufts of stiff greyish plumes about four inches long, 

 projecting from each side of the lower mandible. 



Iris brown ; bill slate-grey ; feet dark slate. 



Total length 37 inches, wing 24, culmen 2-50, tarsus 6-30. 



Adult female, winter, from Italy. 



Resembles the adult male, but lacks the stiff feathers on the sides of 

 the bill and the rufous collar and pectoral band. 



Total length 33 inches, wing 20, culmen 2, tarsus 5. 



Although I have not actually obtained a specimen of this fine 

 Bustard in Tunisia, I include the species among the birds of the 

 Eegency, being almost certain that I saw a pair near Feriana in the 

 spring of 1893. On that occasion I suddenly came upon the birds 

 within thirty yards of me, and could hardly have been mistaken in 

 my identification. Unfortunately I was unprepared for such game, 

 and failed to secure a specimen. Mr. Aplin also, when travelling in 

 South Tunisia, and in the neighbourhood of Bir-Sultane, south-east 



