ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A RUFPED-BrrSTAED. 345 



XVIII. — On the occurrence on the North-East Coast of Yorh;hire 

 of a Ruffed- Bustard, Otis houhara, Gmelin, commonly known as 

 Macqueen's Bustard, Otis Macqueenii, J. E. Gray. By Eichard 

 HowsE, Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Otis Macqueenii, J. E. Gray, Illustr. of Indian Zoology II., pi. 47 

 Otis Houhara, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., p. 725. (1833-34). 



Eupodotis undulata, G. R. Gray, Cat. Brit. Birds (1868), p. 134. 



Macqueen's Bustard, Morris, Hist. Brit. Birds (1861), p. 11. 



Macqueen's Bustard, Yarrell, Brit. Birds, edt. 4, vol. III., p. 221. 



Houhara undulata, Degland & Gerbe, Ornith. Europ. II., p. 104. 



Houhara Macqwenii, Degland & Gerbe, Ornith. Europ. II., p. 105. 



Houhara macqueeni, List of Brit. Birds, B.O.U., p. 154 (1883). 



During the last weeks of October, 1892, I spent a short autumnal 

 holiday at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, or rather hybernated there in 

 the very severe, stormy vs^eather that prevailed through all the 

 latter part of the month on the North-East Coast. The weather 

 was so severe that nearly all my plans for collecting were set 

 aside, and most of the time was spent indoors ; in fact, only one 

 or two things out of many were accomplished. One was the 

 purchase of some stuffed birds that had been shot near Marske. 

 It was this last transaction that led eventually to my negotiating 

 in November the purchase for the Newcastle Museum of a fine 

 adult specimen of Macqueen's Bustard, which, according to 

 authorities, is the second specimen only of this Asiatic bird 

 which has been recorded as killed in England. The first 

 specimen was shot. in Lincolnshire, near Kirton-in-Lindsey, on 

 the 7th October, 1847, and is now preserved in the Museum 

 of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. A characteristic 

 drawing of it by Mr. John Hancock is among his Sketches of 

 Birds in the Newcastle Museum, and shews it to have been 

 either a female or young bird in immature plumage. 



" On the 5th of October last a fine RuflPed-Bustard was shot 

 by Mr. J. Richardson in a bare pasture field near the edge of 

 the sea-banks, a little south of Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire. 

 When it was first seen it was apparently feeding, as it had a 

 few green seeds in its crop and a few were found in the 



