OTIDIDA. Oot 
of the year it is common in one part of the country, moving to 
another as the breeding season commences. Most eggs are found 
in July and August, but occasionally they are to be obtained as 
early as March and as late as the middle of September. 
The egg (there is only one) is placed on the ground, at the 
base of a tussock of grass or bush, in a small depression. 
The eggs vary much in size, shape, and color. They are all more 
or less oval, some are moderately broad ovals, pointed at one end ; 
others are longish ovals, similar at both ends; others again are 
long and cylindrical. 
They vary from 2°75 to 3:42 inches in length, and in breadth 
from 2:05 to 2-45. The average is 3:11 by 2:24. 
The shells are thick and strong, and very commonly exhibit 
pimples at the large end. In color, they vary from a sort of drab to 
dingy olive-green. Earthy-brown, pale olive brown, pale reddish- 
brown, and more rarely pale leaden-blue varieties all occur. The 
markings also vary in like manner, both in extent and intensity : 
blotches, clouds, and streaks of a deep reddish-brown, occasionally 
elearly defined, but more often so faint as to be mere mottlings, are 
the usual characters ; not uncommonly the markings form an irre- 
gular cap at the large énd, occasionally they are altogether 
wanting. Some eggs are brilliantly glossy-white, others are dull, 
and have little or no gloss. 
Genus, Houbara, Bonap. 
Legs rather short; neck of the male furnished with a ruff, 
and occasionally crested ; bill rather lengthened, much depressed 
at the base. 
Houbara macqueeni, J. HL. Gr. 
837.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 612; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 9; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of 
Sind, p. 218; Game Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 17. 
THE HOUBARA BUSTARD. 
Oobarra, Hin. 
Tiloor, Sindi. 
3. Length, 28 to 30°25 ; expanse, 51°5 to 57°75; wing, 15 to 
16; tail, 8°5 to 10:25 ; tarsus, 3°5 to 4; bill from gape, 2:3 to 2°6; 
weight, 4 to 54 lbs. 
9. Length, 25 to 275; expanse, 47 to 51; wing, 1425 to 
15°25; tail, 7°75 to 9:25; tarsus, 3:15 to 3°6; bill from gape, 2 to 
2°5; weight, 21° to 32 lbs. 
Bill blackish, paler beneath ; irides pale to bright yellow; legs 
and feet pale dingy-yellow. 
Head beautifully crested ; the crest consisting of a series of 
lengthened slender feathers in the centre of the crown, white, 
with a black tip in front, wholly white behind; upper plumage, 
including the neck, pale buff, somewhat albescent on the wing- 
coverts and deeper on the back; upper tail-coverts and tail all 
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