THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 41 



gives the culmen of the male as 1'5" and that of the female 

 1-1" but the wing of the male as averaging 9 4" whilst that of the 

 female is 9-7". 



Blanford thus defines the distribntion of the Little Bustard 

 " Southern Europe, Northern Africa and Central Asia, including 

 Afghanistan and Yarkand. A few birds occur in Gilgit, and 

 this species is a regular winter visitant to the extreme North- 

 Western Punjab near Peshawar. A few stragglers are found 

 occasionally east of the Indus and the species has been recorded 

 from Gurdaspur and even from Saharanpur." 



Hume, as usual, gives a good and detailed account of the habitat 

 of Otis tetrax, both in reference to its whole range and its occur- 

 rences within Indian limits. He writes : — "The Butterfly Houbara, 

 as Indian sportsmen in the North-West have not inappropriately 

 designated the Little Bustard of Europe, is a regular and tolerably 

 abundant winter visitant to the northern portions of the Trans- 

 Indus Punjab. 



" Cis-Indus, they can only be considered rare and occasional 

 stragglers. In December 1878, Col. Macleod, R.A., shot a fine 

 male of this species near Gurdaspur, and about the same- time Mr. 

 0. Greig shot a female at Balawala on the bank above the Ganges 

 Kadar in the Saharanpur district ; and, others must doubtless have 

 occurred in the submontane tracts of the Punjab and North- 

 Western Provinces; these are, I believe, the only instances on 

 record of their being brought to bag." 



" Out of India, the Little Bustard is common in suitable locali- 

 ties in Southern Europe and Northern Africa, adjoining the basin 

 of the Mediterranean. It straggles to Northern Europe, even to 

 the British Isles and Sweden. It occurs, and ver}^ numerously, in 

 some places, in Syria, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northern Persia, 

 Kabul and Northern Baluchistan, and throughout the tract of 

 country lying between the Caspian and Western Yarkand, whence 

 we have specimens from Yangihissar, Kashgar and other places in 

 the plains between these and Sanju." 



" It does not appear to go north across the Tian Shan, or east- 

 wards into Mongolia or China; neither Radde, Prjevalski nor 

 David include it in their lists. " 

 6 



