204 OTIDID^E. 



Otis tetrax. LITTLE BUSTARD. 



Otis tetrax Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 154 : France. 



Otis tetrax Linn. ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 154 ; Saunders, 



Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 525. 

 Tetrax tetrax Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxiii. 1894, p. 287. 



Tetrax = rerpaK, a bird known to the ancient Greeks. Akin to rerpt, 

 T(Tpdti>t>, rerpaSbiv, Lithuanian tetervas, Sanskrit tittiris. Old Norse thidr, 

 Latin turtur all names of birds, which may perhaps be onomatopoeic (Curtis, 

 p. 242) ; cf. rerpaw = I cackle. Perhaps it is a Persian word. 



Distribution in the British Islands. An Occasional Visitor, 

 usually in winter, but occasionally in spring. In Great 

 Britain it has occurred most frequently on the eastern and 

 southern coasts, but especially on the former ; north of the 

 Tweed only five occurrences have been noted, in the counties 

 of Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeenshire, and Elgin. In 

 Ireland eight have been obtained in cos. Longford, Wicklow, 

 Cork, Kerry, and Mayo. 



General Distribution. The Little Bustard breeds in Europe 

 and western Asia from central France and Germany east- 

 wards to Tomsk and Lake Zaizan in western Siberia, south- 

 wards to the Spanish Peninsula, south Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, 

 and south-eastern Europe to Transcaspia and Turkestan ; also 

 in Africa north of the Atlas Mountains. On migration it 

 visits north-west India, Persia, Asia Minor, Palestine, 

 Egypt, and north Africa. It is accidental in Scandinavia 

 and the Baltic Provinces. 



Genus CHLAMYDOTIS Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 47. 

 Type : C. undulata (Jacq.). 



Chlamydotis, a word made up from x^A"i' s = a cloak or cover, and 

 Otis a Bustard. 



