216 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



SYPHEOTIS BENGALENSIS. 

 THE BENGAL FLOEICAN. 



Otis bengalensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 724 (1788) ; Hodgson, J. A. S. B. 

 xvi, p. 883. 



Otis deliciosa, Gray tC Harchv. Inch Zool. i, pp. 61 and 62. 



Sypheotides bengalensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 258 ; Jcrdon, B. of Ltd. iii, 

 p. 616 ; Godwin-Austin, J. A. S. B. xiv, Part 2, p. 84. 



Sypheotis bengalensis, Hume, Nests tC Egos, p. 559 ; Hume d- Marsh. 

 Game-B. i, p. 23, iii. p. 424 ; Hume, Cat. No. 838; S. F. viii, p. Ill ; 

 ibid, ix, p. 199 ; Markham, ibid. ; Fasson, ibid. p. 200 ; Butler, ibid. 

 X, p. 162 ; Hume £ Cripps, ibid, xi, p. 312 ; Gates in Hume's Nests ct 

 Eggs, 2ncl Edit, iii, p. 378 ; Finn, In. Waders, p. 123 ; Inglis, 

 J. B. N. H. S. xiv, p. 766 ; id. ibid, xvi, p. 73 ; Wall. ibid, xvi, p. 388 ; 

 Stuart Baker, ibid, xvii, p. 538; id. ibid, xxi, p. 1109 (1912) ; Stevens, 

 ibid, xxiii, p. 725 (1914) ; G. 0. Allen, ibid, xxvi, p. 673 (1919). 



Houbaropsis bengalensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 315 ; id. Hand-L. i, 

 p. 175 ; Gates, Cat. Eggs B. M. i, p. 88 ; id. Game-B. i, p. 414. 



Vernacular Names. Charas, Chars, Charat, H. ; Dahar, Ablak 3 , 

 Bar ? , Terai ; Ulamora, Assamese ; Dao-tiriling, Cachari. 



Description. Adult Male. — Whole head, ueck and lower parts very 

 glossy black, in some lights showing a distinct blue or purplish sheen, 

 more especially on the feathers of the breast and crest. Back black, 

 each feather with two broad bars of buff mottled with black, the 

 general appearance of the back being thus a mottled black and buff, 

 the former predominating. The bases of the feathers are black, and 

 in quite freshly-plumaged birds there is a narrow buff fringe to the 

 tips of the feathers, which, however, soon gets abraded so that the 

 tips generally appear black. Inner scapulars like the back, but the 

 mottlings are even more irregular ; the centres to the feathers are 

 chiefly black and the surrounding portions vermiculated buff and 

 black. Tail, four centre feathers like the back, but the outermost 

 are entirely black with narrow white tips, and the intermediate 

 feathers grade from one to the other. Outer scapulars black, a few 

 of the feathers more or less mottled with buff on the inner webs, 

 inner secondaries like the back, but with numerous bars of black, not 



