140 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



OTIS TARDA TARDA. 



THE GEEAT BUSTARD. 



Otis tarda.— i;»». S. N. i, p. 264 ; Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 404 ; id. S. F. 

 vii, p. 434; Hume d- Marsh. Game-B. i, p. 1, pi.; Hume, Cat. 

 No. 836 bis ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 284 ; id. Hand-L. i, 

 p. 173; Finn, In. Waders, p. 116; Oatcs, Game-B. i, p. 394; id. 

 Cat. Eggs B. M. ii, p. 84 ; WiUoughbij Verner, My Life among the 

 Wild Birds in Spain, pp. 131 et seq. ; Chapman d Buck, Unexplored 

 Spain, p. 253; Fooks, The Field, February 11, 1911; ibid. 

 September 16, 1911 ; Stuart Baker, J. B. N. H. S. xxi, p. 22 (1911) ; 

 Kinnear, ibid, xxi, p. 268 ; Hartert, Nov. Zool. xxiii, p. 337 ; Ludloiv, 

 J. B. N. H. S. XXV, p. 305 (1917) ; Thornhill, ibid. p. 487 (1918) ; 

 Boos-Kcppel, ibid. p. 745 (1918). 



Vernacular Name — Den-dagh (Chitrali). 



Description. Adult Male. — General colour above sandy-rufous, 

 broadly banded across with black, the bands very strongly marked 

 on the upper back and scapulars, less so on lower back and rump ; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers light bay or vinous-chestnut, 

 barred across with black, some of the bars broken up ; the tail- 

 feathers more or less distinctly tipped with white, the outer feathers 

 white at the base, the three outermost almost entirely white, with 

 a broad subterminal band of black ; lesser wing-coverts like the 

 back, with black bars less closely arranged than on the back ; 

 remainder of wing-coverts, bastard-wing and primary-coverts white, 

 powdered with grey towards the end of the feathers ; quills brown 

 with white bases, the primaries whity-brown with white shafts, the 

 outer web and the tips blackish ; the outer secondaries blackish, 

 white at the base, the white increasing in extent towards the inner 

 secondaries, which have a gradually decreasing extent of black tip 

 till the last feathers are quite white, the innermost secondaries being 

 sandy-rufous barred with black like the back ; crown of head light 

 grey, becoming tinged with rufous on the hind-neck, which has 

 numerous narrow black transverse bars ; sides of face, ear-coverts, 

 cheeks and entire throat light grey, with elongated bristle-like 

 feathers on each side of the chin : lower throat orange-chestnut. 



