JOURNAL 



OF THE 



Bombay Natural History Society. 



July 1912. Vol. XXI. No. 3. 



THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, 

 BURMA AND OEYLON. 



BY 



E. C. Stuart Baker, F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 

 Part VII. 



With Plates VII and A c& B. 

 (Continued from page oS7 of this Volume.) 

 GenvLS—SYniEOTIS. 



The principal generic distinction between the birds of this 

 ;genus and other Bustards is the greater comparative length of the 

 legs. The tarsus in Sypheotis is equal to rather more than ^rd the 

 length of the wing, whereas in all other Bustards it is only equal 

 to jth. The chief generic characteristic relied on by Blanford is the 

 supposed fact of the males putting on a seasonal breeding plumage. 

 It, however, now seems quite certain that the male Sypheotis 

 ■hengalensis retains this adult plumage, when once fully acquired, 

 throughout the year, though the smaller bird, Sypheotis aurita, 

 does, on the contrarj^, acquire an annual nuptial plumage. The 

 jprimary quills of both species are notched on the inner web and 

 are very attenuated, but especially so in aurita. 



In the breeding season the males of both species, and during the 

 whole year the fully adult males of Sypheotis hQnrjalensis, have the 

 1 



