106 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family OTIDID^E. Genus HOUBARA. 



MACQUEEN'S BUSTARD. 



HOUBAEA MACQUEENI (Gray and Hardw). 



PLATE XVI. 



Otis macqueenii, Gray and Hardw. Illustr. Ind. Orn. ii. pi. 47 (1834) ; Dresser B. 

 Eur. vii. p. 395, pi. 511 (1876) ; Yarrell, Brit. B., ed. 4, iii. p. 221 (1884) ; Seebohm, 

 Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 591 (1884) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 219 

 (1894) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xxv. (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. 

 B. p. 30 pi. 23 (1896). 



Houbara macqueenii (Gray and Hardw.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. p 318 

 (1894) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 123 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British : Four examples of this Eastern 

 Bustard have been obtained on our Islands. The fact of their visits being made 

 in autumn all four occurred in October and that the northern range of this 

 species in Asia is sufficient to bring the birds within the influence of the western 

 stream of migration, which sets in at that time into Europe (where Macqueen's 

 Bustard has from time to time been captured, is strong presumptive evidence of 

 their legitimate occurrence in a wild state in this country. The first example 

 was shot at Kirton-in-Lindsey, in Lincolnshire, on the 7th of October, 1847. It 

 is now preserved in the museum of the Philosophical Society at York. The 

 second was shot near Marske, on the north-east coast of Yorkshire, on the 5th of 

 October, 1892. It was apparently an adult male in beautiful plumage, and is 

 now preserved in the museum at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The third example, a 

 young male, was shot at Easington, near Spurn, on the Yorkshire coast, on the 

 17th of October, 1896. The fourth, a female, was shot in Aberdeenshire, on the 

 24th of October, 1898. Foreign: South-west Asia. It breeds in Turkestan, South- 

 west Siberia, east to Lake Saisan, southwards into Afghanistan, Persia, and the 

 eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, and winters in South Persia, Baluchistan, the 

 Punjaub, and Scinde. It has occurred accidentally in Germany, Holland, 

 Schleswig, Sweden (Oeland), Poland, Silesia, Finland, Livonia, and Italy. 



Allied forms. Houbara undulata, an inhabitant of Armenia, Palestine, 

 and North Africa, westward to the Canaries. Differs from Macqueen's Bustard 

 in having the crest feathers and the elongated feathers of the throat pure white, 

 the long feathers of the lower throat grey instead of white, the upper parts more 

 rufous, and the vermiculations coarser. A form of this Bustard, apparently 

 peculiar to Fuerteventura an island of the Canary group has recently been 

 described as distinct under the name of H. fuerteventurce. 



