198 



shot Houbara (from horseback) by circling round, never going 

 directly towards the bird unt;l it squats down. Wheii thus 

 lying down, even in bare ground, only a, trained eye can detect it, 

 the resemblance to a stone or a small heap of sand is remarkable, 

 and the transformation that takes place when a Houbara, or, as 

 sometimes happens, two, three, or more, spring into flight from 

 the apparently lifeless waste, is not easily forgotten by any one 

 who has witnessed it. Houbara are excellent eating as a rule, 

 but they contract a strong and unpleasant flavour at times from 

 feeding on shoots of mustard and other allied plants grown as oil- 



i 



Genus SYPHEOTIS, Lesson, 1839. 



This is an Indian genus of small or moderately-sized Bustards 

 without a ruff, and with longer bill and legs thau in the other 

 genera found in India. The chief generic cnaracter, however, is 

 that the male in the breeding-season assumes a peculiar plumage, 

 with the head, neck, and lower surface black, and the wings partly 

 white. In this stage there is a considerable difference between the 

 males S. bengalensis being crested, with long feathers in front of 

 the neck, whilst S. aurita has a tuft of peculiar elongate plumes 

 from each side of the head and consequently the two have been 

 placed by Sharpe in different genera. With the exception, how- 

 ever, of the male ornamental plumes, the two species, which inhabit 

 different parts of India, agree very well. An African genus 

 (Lissotis) is very similar in coloration. 



Females are larger than males. The primary-quills are notched 

 on the inner web and attenuate towards the end, much more so 

 in S. aurita than in /S. benyalensis. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Wing 7'3 to 975; tarsus 3'5 to 4*5 inches . . S. aurita, p. 198, 



b. Wing 13-5 to 1475 ; tarsus 5-0 to 6*5 inches . S. benyatensis, p. 200. 



1416. Sypheotis aurita. The Lesser Florican or Likli. 



? Otis iudica, Gm. SysL Nat. i, p. 725 (1788). 



Otis aurita, Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii, p. 6(30 (1790). 



Sypheotides auritus, Lesson, Jiev. Zool. 1839, p. 47 ; Blyth, Cat. 

 p. 259; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 619 ; King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, 

 p. 216; McMaster, J. A. S. B. xi, pt, 2, p. 215; Stdiczka, 

 J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 250; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 415; 

 Hume, S. F. i, p. 228 ; id. N. $ E. p. 561 ; Adam, tf. F. i, 

 p. 393 ; ii, p. 339 ; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 42 ; vii, p. 220 ; Le Mess. 

 S. F. iii, p. 380 ; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 323 ; Biyth, Birds Burnt. 

 p. 152 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 10 ; v, p. 231 ; ix, p. 424 ; x, p. HU ; 

 Davidson fy Wend. S. F. vii, p. 87 ; Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. i r 

 p. 33, pi. ; iii, p. 425, pi. i (eggs) ; Hume, Cat. no. 839 ; Mclnroy, 

 S. F. viii, p. 491 ; Vidal, S. F\ ix, p. 77 ; Uavidson, 8. F. x, p. 318 ; 



Syph 



Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed'. iii, p. 380 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, 

 p. 313. 



