320 OTIDID.E. 



GENUS, Eupodotis, Lesson. 



Bill long, pointed, nearly straight ; legs long and strong ; 

 wings lengthened and very ample ; male provided with a 

 pouch ; sexes alike in plumage or nearly so, but the female about 

 a third smaller ; no spring moult ; of very large size. 



Eupodotis edwardsi, J. E. Gr. 



836. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 607 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. I V, p. 9 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 



p. 424 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 217; Game 



Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 7. 



THE INDIAN BUSTARD. 



$. Length, 45 to 50 ; expanse, 86 to 96 ; wings, 24'5 to 29 ; tail, 

 13; tarsus, 7'5 to 8'37 ; bill from gape, 4'0 to 475 ; weight, 17 

 to 22 Ibs. 



? . Length, 36 to 38 ; expanse, 72 to 76 ; wings, 20 to 22 ; 

 tarsus, 5-5 to 6'8 ; weight, 8 to 10 Ibs. 



Bill greyish-brown, dusky at tip ; irides vary from pale to 

 bright yellow ; legs and feet yellowish-creamy. 



Male, top of the head with crest black ; face, nape, and the 

 whole neck, white, the feathers somewhat lengthened and hackled 

 in front ; the back and upper plumage, including the shoulders 

 of the wings and the inner wing-coverts, pale olive-brown or 

 buff, beautifully mottled and variegated with minute lines 

 of black ; outer wing-coverts black, white tipped ; greater- 

 coverts slaty-grey, also tipped with white, as in the winglet ; 

 primaries dark slaty, more dusky on their outer edges, and white 

 tipped ; tail as the back, with a dark subterminal band not 

 always very distinct on the central feathers ; a blackish-brown 

 band across the breast ; lower parts, with the thigh -co verts, 

 white ; the flanks dark olive-brown ; vent and lower tail-coverts 

 the same but lighter. 



The female is one-third less at least, the white of the neck is 

 less pure, generally, indeed, mottled with olive-brown, and with 

 some rufous about the face and eyes ; the pectoral band is 

 incomplete, and consists of broken spots ; the abdomen is less 

 pure white, and the flanks paler brown and more spotted. 



Young males resemble the females, and it is only the largest 

 old males that have the neck pure white, as described above, 

 in most there being a few brown specks on the neck. In the 

 old male, too, the neck appears very thick, the feathers being 

 well puffed out and full. 



The Indian Bustard is fairly common in the more wilder and 

 barren portions of the Deccan, Rajputana, Kutch and Central 

 India. It is also not uncommon in the Thur and Parker districts 

 in Sind. 



The Indian Bustard In the true sense of the word is not 

 migratory, yet it wanders much in search of food ; at one season 



