OHLAMYDOTIS UNDULATA MACQUEBNII 191 



longitudinal in their character, and primary and secondary are about 

 equal in size and number. 



The surface is close arid fine and sometimes has a very fair amount 

 of gloss. The shell is strong and smooth, but often has a few tiny knots 

 or corrugations upon it. In shape the eggs are fairly true ellipses, 

 varying from broad sphero-elliptical to rather long ellipses vs^ith a 

 smaller end well defined. Fifty eggs average 62'9 X 4.5"1 mm. 

 The longest and broadest eggs are ()8'() X 43'6 mm. and (32'0 X 

 48'4 mm. respectively, whilst the shortest and most narrow measure 

 58'1 X 45'4 mm. and 62-5 X 41'G ram. 



General Habits. — The fact that our Indian Houbara has been so 

 much confounded with the African bird, Chlami/clotis u. unchdata, 

 has prevented many persons from collecting specimens of the 

 Houbara when met with on the borderlands of the two species, and 

 the dividing line between the two has not yet been satisfactorily 

 worked out. The B.M. possesses so few specimens of either sort, 

 except for those Indian-killed specimens of Clilami/dotis u. viac- 

 quecnii in the Hume collection, that they do not much help in this 

 respect. 



Dresser, in his ' Palsearctic Birds ' gives the habitat of our bird as 

 " N.W. India, Afghanistan, Persia, Central Asia ; a rare straggler to 

 Europe and has been met with in Germany, Poland, Finland, 

 Oland, Belgium, Holland, and four times in Great Britain." The 

 African Houbara he gives as extending to Palestine and Armenia. 



The Houbara arrives in India as early as the end of August. 

 Hume records the shooting of one on the 27th of August and Butler 

 records the arrival on the 30th of that mouth. The latter, however, 

 says : " The end of August is exceptionally early for their arrival. 

 The main body do not appear until about the first week in October. 

 A few pairs were breeding at Henjam, Persian Gulf, at the beginning 

 of April, 1877." Butler's record refers to Northern Guzerat and in 

 the Northern Punjab they are reported to arrive at much the same 

 time ; a few stragglers appear in early September, but not many are 

 to be found until very late in that month or early in October. 



Their departure takes place in March and early April, though 

 Doig's men reported their still being in the Eastern Nara, Sind^ 

 in May and June. Doig also adds that " a man voluntarily informed 



