HOUBABA. 89- 



Genus HOUBARA, Bp. 



Houbara macqueeni (Gray fy Hardw.). 



Houbara niacqueeni, A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 397, pi. xxxix. fig. 5 ; 



Hume $ Marsh. Game Birds 2nd. i. p. 17 (1879) ; Barnes, Journ* 



Bomb. Not. Hist. Soc. vi. p. 12, pi. . fig. 837^(1891) ; Sharpe, Cat. 



Birds B. M. xxiii. p. 318 (1894); Oates, Game Birds 2nd. i. p. 405 



(1898) ; Sharpe, Hand-l. i. p. 175 (1899). 

 Otis macqueeni, Dresser, Birds Eur. vii. p. 395 (1876) ; Seebohm, Brit. 



Birds, ii. p. 591, pi. 21 (1884) ; id. Egys of Brit. Birds, p. 90, pi. 23. 



fig-. 1 (1896). 



The eggs of the Indian Houbara Bustard are closely elliptical 

 in form and possess very little gloss. The ground varies from stone- 

 colour to dull olive- brown, and the markings are more distinct than 

 is usually the case with the eggs of the Bustards. They consist of 

 spots and blotches of rather dark brown and pale underlying 

 purple, very evenly distributed over the whole shell. Specimens 

 measure from 2-3 to 2-55 in length, and from 1-65 to 1-85 in 

 breadth. 



2. Mesopotamia. Euphrates Exped. 



3. Dir, Euphrates Valley, 25th April. Capt. J. A. Douglas [P.]. 



1. Koweik, Persian Gulf. W. D. Gumming, Esq. [P.]. 



1. Altai Mountains, 15th Mav Seebohm Coll. 



(Tancre). 



3. Altai Mountains, June Seebohm Coll. 



(Tancre). 



Houbara undulata (Jacq.\ 



Otis liubara, Thien. Fortpfanz. aes. Voy. tab. Ivi. fig. 4, a, b (1845-54) ; 



Bree, Birds Eur. iv. p. 4, pi. (1867) ; 2nd ed. iv. p. 155, pi. 



(1875). 

 Houbara undulata, Baedeker, Eier Eur. Voy. tab. 45. fig. 3 (1855-63) ; 



Salvin, Ibis, 1859, p. 353 ; Tristram, Ibis, 1860, p. 75 ; Sharpe, Cat. 



Birds B. M. xxiii. p. 320 (1894) ; id. Hand-Li, p. 176 (1899). 

 Otis undulata, Dresser, Birds Eur. vii. p. 391 (1876). 



The eggs of the Houbara Bustard are on the whole paler than 

 those of the foregoing species, but otherwise inseparable from them. 

 Eight examples measure from 2'3 to 2-55 in length, and from 1-7 

 to 1-8 in breadth. 



2. North Africa. Gould Coll. 



1. Morocco, 7th April. Seebohm Coll. 



1. Algeria (J. H. Gurney). Seebohm Coll. 



1. Plain of Roumila, Algeria, 21st May Salvin-Godman Coll. 

 (O. Salvin}. 



1. The Harakta, Algeria, 10th June Salvin-Goduian Coll. 



(0.&). 



2. Egypt (S. St. afford Allen). Seebohm Coll. 



