Bustards. 407 



has seen eggs in the latter place, but as 

 he did not preserve them, he may have 

 made a mistake, but he is too good a 

 sportsman not to know a Houbara when 

 he sees one. Mr. Doig had excellent 

 reasons for believing that the Houbara 

 bred in the desert between Godra and 

 Renahoe. Colonel Butler long ago placed 

 on record the remark that a perfect egg 

 had been extracted from the oviduct of a 

 female at the island of Hanjam, off the 

 Mekran coast, in the month of April, and 

 that one or two pairs were breeding there." 



In the British Museum there are eggs 

 of this Bustard from the Persian Gulf, 

 Mesopotamia and the Altai mountains in 

 Central Asia. They are oval in shape, 

 with little or no gloss. The ground-colour 

 is generally speaking olive-brown and the 

 shell is covered with blotches and clouds 

 of dark brown, reddish brown and grey. 

 Seven eggs measure from to 2 "30 to 2*58 

 in length and from i"62 to 1*82 in breadth. 



In this species the two sexes are quitealike 

 in. coloration, but the female is smaller than 

 the male and has the crest, neck-rufif and 

 pectoral ruff rather less developed. 



The crest of this Bustard springs from 

 the middle of the crown, the front feathers 

 being white with black tips and the 



