INDIAN HOUBARA BUSTAED. 



OTIS MACQUEENI, J. E. Gray. 



Otis macqueeni, Gi'ay ^ Hardivicke, 111. Ind. Zool. ii. pi. 47 ; 

 Naum. xiii. Suppl. p. 216 ; Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 221 ; 

 Dresser, vii. p. 395. 



A bird of this species was shot in October 1847 by 

 Mr. G. Hunsley in a stubble-field near Kirton-in-Lindsey, 

 Lincolnshire, and the specimen is still preserved in the 

 museum of the Philosophical Society at York. A second 

 bird was shot on 5th October, 1892, near Marske, in 

 Yorkshire. It proved to be a male and is now in the 

 museum at Newcastle- on-Tyne. A third example, also 

 a male, was shot in the parish of Easington, near Spurn 

 Head, on the 17th October, 1896, and an account of 

 its capture is given by Mr. John Cordeaux in the 

 ' Zoologist ' for 1896 (p. 433). 



In Europe several occurrences of this Bustard have 

 been recorded, concerning some of which the details are 

 given by Mr. H. Saunders in his ' Manual.' The home 

 of the species is Central Asia, whence it migrates 

 southwards, and spends the winter in Northern India, 

 and is said to be especially abundant in Sind at that 

 season. 



An egg of this species, taken in Mesopotamia in May 

 1860, and sent to Professor Newton, is figured in the 

 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1861 

 (p. 397, pi. xxxix. fig. 5). ' [0. S.] 



