CHLAMYDOTIS UNDULATA MACQUEENII 187 



Vernacular Names. Tilitr, Punjab; Talitr, Sindhi ; Hohara or Obara, 

 Persian. 



Description. Adult Male. — Forehead, sides of the crown and whole 

 upper plumage sandy-buff, very finely venniculated with black, the 

 general aspect being sandy ; on the mantle and scapulars the black 

 vermiculations form into fairly definite black bars across the feathers, 

 but these are absent on the lower back and rump ; crest of long 

 narrow feathers, white on the basal and black on the terminal halves; 

 upper tail-coverts like the mantle but more rufous. Tail sandy-rufous, 

 the vermiculations almost absent at the base but increasing towards 

 the tip, where they are as numerous as on the back and a little 

 coarser ; four broad bars of grey, the two apical bars darker, and 

 becoming quite black on the two central rectrices, similar in character 

 to the black vermiculated bars on the back ; all the rectrices, with 

 the exception of the two central ones, tipped white. 



The feathers on the nape are curiously downy, and those in the 

 centre are often without any vermiculations. Sides of the head 

 whitish-buff with black striae ; chin and throat buffy-white ; fore 

 neck pale buff', finely vermiculated with black; on the upper breast 

 the buff changes to a beautiful french-grey and the vermiculations 

 almost disappear ; lower tail-coverts buffy-white, much splashed and 

 marked with brown, this colour forming into well-marked bars on 

 the outer webs of the outermost feathers ; remainder of lower parts 

 white. Primaries black, the bases white and the outer webs buff', 

 this colour being most pronounced on the first primary, the inner 

 webs white for two-thirds of their length, outer secondaries the same 

 but with no buff on the outer webs and with the tips white ; inner 

 secondaries like the scapulars ; lesser wing-coverts like the back, 

 median coverts the same but albescent ; greater coverts with broad 

 black subterminal bars and white tips ; winglet black. 



Both males and females have a ruff of feathers starting from the 

 sides of the neck and, to some extent, from the hind-neck ; the latter 

 are sparse and thin, mixed black and white but with the former 

 predominating ; the feathers at the sides form two long tufts, the 

 inner are white on the basal halves and black on the terminal halves, 

 which are much broader; outside these the feathers are white, of 

 the same breadth throughout and generally longer than the broader 



