CURSOKID.E. 323 



? . Length, 18 to 21'3 ; expanse, 29 to 36 ; wing, 9 to 975 ; 

 tail, 47 to 5 ; tarsus, 3'9 to 4'4 ; bill from gape, 2'28 to 2'3 ; 

 weight, 1 T \ to 1-il Ibs. 



Bill pale yellow, fleshy towards gape ; irides dull yellow to 

 brownish ; legs pale fleshy-yellow. 



Male, in full breeding plumage, with the head, neck, ear-tufts, 

 medial wing-coverts, and the whole lower plumage, deep black, 

 the chin alone being white ; lower part of the hind-neck and a 

 large patch on the wing, white, the rest of the plumage fulvous, 

 beautifully and closely mottled with dark-brown ; the first three 

 primaries plain dusky-brown, the remainder both barred and 

 mottled with brown. The down at the base of all the feathers 

 is a beautiful pale dull rose-color, and the quills, when freshly 

 moulted, have a beautiful bloom, mingled pink and green, which 

 however soon fades. The ear-tufts are about four inches long, 

 and have usually three feathers on each side ; with the shaft 

 bare, and a small oval web at the tip, curving upwards. The 

 primaries are much acuminated, sometimes ending in a point 

 almost as fine as a needle. 



The female has the prevalent tone of her plumage pale 

 fulvous-yellow ; the feathers of the head, back, wings, and tail, 

 clouded and barred with deep brovvn, those on the head mostly 

 brown, the foreneck with two irregular interrupted streaks 

 increasing on the lower neck and breast, the lower plumage 

 thence being unspotted and albescent; the hind-neck is finely 

 speckled with brown ; the chin and throat white ; the first three 

 primaries, as in the male, unspotted brown ; wing-coverts with 

 only a few bars ; axillaries brown. 



In both sexes, but it is more marked in the male, the earlier 

 primaries are very sharply pointed, and have the terminal one- 

 third greatly narrowed by a sudden emargination. 



The Lesser Florican is generally distributed throughout our 

 limits, but with the exception perhaps of the Deccan only as a 

 seasonal visitant. It appears to be getting scarcer every suc- 

 ceeding year, owing to the merciless manner in which it is shot by 

 sportsmen and others during the breeding season, which lasts 

 from the end of August to the commencement of November, 

 most of the eggs being laid towards the end of September. The 

 eggs, four in number, are placed in a depression sheltered by a 

 tussock of grass or stunted bush (there is no nest to speak of) ; 

 they are broadish oval in shape, pointed somewhat at one end, 

 of a dark olive-green color, spotted and clouded with light brown. 

 Dark olive-brown, clear, almost sap-green, drab, and stone-colored 

 varieties occur, and the markings vary from brown to reddish 

 or olive-brown ; they measure 1'87 inches by 1*6. 



FAMILY, Cursoridae 



Tarsi elevated ; bill somewhat slender ; three toes only ; plum- 

 age brown and rufous. 



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