THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 23 



back ; remainder of wing-coverts, bastard-wing, and primary 

 coverts white, powdered with grey towards the end of the feathers ; 

 quills brown with white bases, the primaries whity-brown with 

 white shafts, the outer web and the tips blackish; the outer 

 secondaries blackish, white at the base, the white increasing in 

 extent towards the inner secondaries, which have a gradually 

 decreasing extent of black tip till the last feathers are qaite white, 

 the innermost secondaries being sandy rufous barred with black 

 like the back; crow^n of head light grey, becoming tinged with 

 rufous on the hind neck, which has numerous narrow black trans- 

 verse bars, sides or face, ear-coverts, cheeks and entire throat light 

 grey, with elongated bristle-like feathers on each side of the chin ; 

 lower throat orange-chestnut, forming a band across the fore-neck, 

 which is washed with light grey, the sides of the neck with 

 numerous small bars of black; sides of upper breast sandy rufous 

 barred with black ; remainder of undersurface of body pure white. 



" Bill leaden-grey, horn black at the tip ; feet earthy brown, 

 nails horny black ; iris dark-brown ; eyelid with white feathers." 

 (J, F. Naumann). 



" Total length about 42 inches, culmen 2-1, wing 23-5, tail 10, 

 tarsus 6." (Sharpe). 



Adult female. — The female differs from the male chiefly in being 

 considerably smaller and in having no whiskers. The chestnut 

 band on the lower throat of the male exists in the female only as 

 patches at the sides under the shoulders of the wing. 



Wing 18-25" to 20"; culmen 1-9" to 2-1"; bill from gape 

 2-75" ; tarsus 4-5" to 5-25"; mid toe 2-25"; tail about 8". 



Young. — The crown of the head like the back, which is similar 

 to that of the females but paler and less boldly marked with black ; 

 lower throat and foreneck more or less washed with sandy buff; 

 the white of the wings is much marked with black, the bastard 

 wing is barred with rufous and brown and thera is a certain 

 amount of rufous on the greater wing coverts. 



Nestling. — Covered with light down, mottled with black. 



Colonel Willoughby Verner in his most interesting book " My 

 Life among the Wild Birds in Spain " makes the following remarks 

 concerning the weights of Bustards : — " The weight of a Bustard 



