4 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Syrrhaptes paradoxus^ Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. 

 p. 2 (1893). 



(Plate I.) 



Adult Male. — General colour pale sandy. No black spots on 

 the sides of the neck ; a band of white feathers across the 

 breast, each feather with a narrow black cross-bar before the 

 tip ; throat rust-red, not margined with a black line. A large 

 black patch on the abdomen. Total length, 14*6 inches; wing, 

 9" 1 ; tail, 7 ; tarsus, o*8. 



Adult Female. — Differs from the male in having the sides of 

 the neck spotted with black ; the band across the breast is 

 wanting ; a black line bounds the pale buff throat. Total 

 length, 12-8 inches; wing, 8; tail, .5*5 ; tarsus, o*8. 



Nestling. — Covered with beautifully-patterned down, each 

 plume of the body being distinct and almost scale-like in 

 appearance, quite different from the fluffy down of young 

 Game-Birds. The general colour is pale buff, with patches of 

 sienna and brown arranged in pairs on the sides of the head 

 and upper-parts of the body. These patches are mostly mar- 

 gined and connected by irregular dotted black lines. (Cf. 

 Newton, Ibis, 1890, p. 210, pi. vii.) 



Range. — Kirghiz Steppes, throughout Central Asia to IV'Ion- 

 golia and Northern China, extending northwards to the north 

 of Lake Baikal and south to Turkestan. A sporadic migrant 

 to ^'estern Europe. Periodically, and from some unknown 

 cause, great numbers visit Europe in early summer, even pene- 

 trating to the islands on the western coasts. The first great 

 visitation took place in 1863, and again, in 1888, enormous 

 numbers spread themselves over Europe and bred in various 

 places, both eggs and young having been obtained. In other 

 years smaller flocks have been observed, but none have ever 

 succeeded in establishing themselves permanently, the com- 

 paratively small number that escaped being shot or killing 

 themselves on the telegraph wires, having always disappeared, 

 and possibly succeeded in returning to the Kirghiz Stepper. 



