HOUBABA. 197 



p, 258 ; Jerdou, B. I. iii, p. 612 ; StoticsJta, J. A. S. B. xll, pt. 2> 

 p. 250; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1878, p. 415 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 227; 

 Adam, ibid. p. 393 ; Le Mess. S. F. iii, p. 379 ; Butler fy Hume, 

 S. F. iv, p. 9 ; Butler, 8. F. v, pp. 231, 286 ; Hume $ Marsh. 

 Game B. i, p. 17, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 837 ; Doig, S. F. ix, p. 281 ; 

 St. John, Ibi*, 189, p. 175 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 321 ; id. 

 Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 12, fig. 837 (egg) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 

 xxiii, p. 318. 



Tilur, Punjabi ; Taltir, Sindhi ; Hobdra, P. 



Coloration. Crown and greater part of upper surface sandy 

 buff minutely vermiculated with black ; in the middle of the crown 

 a crest of lengthened leathers, white with long black tips ; nape 

 greyish white with dusky speckling; feathers on hind neck buff, 

 very downy ; back, scapulars, tertiaries, and lesser wing-coverts 

 with blackish patches produced by bands of coarser black mottling 

 on the feathers ; ruff of lengthened feathers on each side of the 

 neck black near the head, white behind; median and greater 

 wing-coverts albescent, but vermiculated ; some or all of the 

 greater coverts in most birds with subterminal black bars and 

 white tips ; winglet black ; greater primary-coverts black, creamy 

 white at the base and generally white-tipped ; primaries and 

 secondaries white at the base, becoming buff on the outer web, 

 black near the end, the secondaries white-tipped ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail-feathers like back, but more rufous ; tail-feathers 

 crossed by bluish-grey bars (black beneath), mottled with buff on 

 the median rectrices only ; all the outer rectrices with white tips, 

 the black vermiculation disappearing on the basal portion of the 

 tail-feathers ; chin and throat white ; sides of head buff, with a 

 few black streaks ; fore neck buff speckled with black, passing 

 into bluish ashy-grey on the upper breast ; lower breast and 

 remainder of lower parts white, generally a few black bars or 

 spots on the flanks and lower tail-coverts, the latter in part bull. 

 Sexes alike in plumage, but females run smaller. 



Bill blackish above, paler below ; irides yellow ; legs and feet 

 dull yellow (flume). . 



Length of male 29 ; tail 9 ; wing 15-5 ; tarsus 3-8 ; bill from 

 gape 2-25. Length of female 26; tail 8-5; wing 15; tarsus 3*6. 

 Distribution. A cold- weather visitor to North-western India, 

 common from early in September to the end of March in parts 

 of the Punjab, Hind, and the desert portion of Kajputana north of 

 the Aravallis, also in Cutch and Northern Guzerat. A few birds 

 occur farther east, single individuals having been shot in Meerut 

 and Bhurtpore. The Houbara breeds in the highlands of 

 Afghanistan and Persia, and a few stragglers may do so occa- 

 sionally in the Indian desert. 



Habits, c. This Bustard is generally found solitary or in small 

 parties on open sandy semi-desert plains, very often in the neigh- 

 bourhood of mustard-fields. It feeds on seeds, small fruits, shoots 

 of plants, and insects. It runs quickly and is difficult to approach 

 on foot, but it is generally shot from a camel. I have repeatedly 



