2 62 GRUIFORMES 



CHAP. 



brown, the head is blue-grey, with long white bristles at the base, 

 of the mandible, the lower surface is white, relieved in the male by 

 a tawny gorget for a short time during the breeding season; The 

 primaries are black, most of the secondaries and wing-coverts 

 white. Some other Bustards seem to have a similar vernal change 

 of plumage. The female is smaller and has no bristles. 0. tetrax, 

 the Little Bustard, a straggler to our shores, is somewhat like 

 the last species ' in colour, but has the cheeks and throat grey, 

 bordered by a white line, and below this comes a broad black collar 

 divided in front by a median white band in the nesting time. 

 The female is brown and black, with white breast and no collar. 

 The remaining members of the Family vary considerably in 

 pattern of colour, being spotted, streaked, or vermiculated above, and 

 being occasionally very dark ; the head and the lower parts, more- 

 over, are not uncommonly quite black, or the latter may be greyish- 

 blue, as in Trachelotis coeridescens. The bill and feet are usually 

 yellow, more seldom greyish or dusky. Females and young exhibit 

 a more uniform mixture of brown, black, and buff, while rufous 

 bases to the feathers are characteristic of the group. 



Bustards are Old World birds, reaching eastwards to Aus- 

 tralia, where Uupodotis australis is called the " Native Turkey." 

 E. edwardsi inhabits the plains of India, E. arahs extends from 

 Arabia to North Africa, and JEJ. kori from the East to the South 

 of that continent. Otis ranges over South and Central Europe, 

 and thence to North Africa, inhabiting also Mid- Asia to North - 

 West India, the Yangtze-Kiang Eiver and Japan. Houhara 

 undulata, the African Ruffed Bustard, reaches from the Canaries,^ 

 through the Mediterranean basin to about Armenia ; its congener 

 S. macqueeni, which strays westward to Britain, being resident 

 in Persia, North India and Central Asia. Houbaropsis hengalensis 

 and Si/pheotis aurita are the Florican and Lesser Florican of 

 India ; Zophotis, Compsotis, Heterotetrax, Neotis, Lissotis, and 

 Trachelotis inhabit the Ethiopian Region. The members of the 

 Family are to some extent migratory, and perhaps the Great 

 Bustard was partly so of old in pritain. 



The members of this Family Hock in winter, and occasionally 

 form small parties at other seasons, the males being very possibly 

 polygamous, though the fact is hardly proved. Typically inland 

 birds, they haunt dry grassy and sandy plains, or cultivated ground 



^ Mr. Rothschild has separated the Canary Island race as H. fuerteventurae. 



