594 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Macqueen's Bustard does not appear to be a polygamous bird, but lives 

 in pairs during the breeding-season. Respecting its habits during this 

 interestiug period nothing has been definitely recorded: whether it 

 builds a nest, or merely lays its eggs in a hollow on the bare plain, those 

 naturalists who have been on its breeding-grounds omit to say. Doubt- 

 less in its nidification it resembles its close ally the African Bustard, 

 whose nest is only a depression in the ground, with no lining. I have 

 an egg of this bird in my collection which was obtained by Tancre's 

 collectors on the Altai Mountains. It is buffish brown or rich stone- 

 colour, sparingly blotched and spotted with surface-markings of dark 

 brown, and with paler underlying blotches of the same colour and dull 

 grey ; the spots are evenly distributed over the entire surface, but none 

 of them are very bold or decided. This specimen measures 2'55 inch in 

 length and 1'85 inch in breadth. The eggs of the African species some- 

 what closely resemble that of Macqueen^s Bustard, but are a trifle less in 

 bulk and paler in ground-colour, but the spots are quite as distinct. It 

 will be noticed that the egg of the present species is a very distinct type 

 from either of the other British Bustards, and more closely approaches 

 that of the Plovers. 



Macqueen's Bustard is a very silent bird. Hume writes : — " I have 

 never heard this bird utter any sound, either when feeding undisturbed, or 

 when suddenly flushed, or when wounded or seized, or about to be seized, 

 by man or dog. Possibly, during the breeding-season, the males have 

 some call." It is only a winter visitor to India, where it usually makes 

 its appearance early in September, and leaves again in March or early in 

 April, according to the warmth of the weather. 



Macqueen's Bustard is intermediate in size between the female Great 

 Bustard and the Little Bustard. In the colour of its plumage it very 

 closely resembles the male of the latter species, but the upper parts 'are 

 still more finely vermiculated with black, and the vermiculations extend to 

 all the wing-coverts and to the head and throat. The plumes on the head 

 and neck are quite difi'erent ; those on the crown and nape are pale slate- 

 grey, tipped with black ; and the upper neck is furnished with black 

 plumes, and the lower neck with white plumes on either side. Bill dark 

 brown, paler at the base of the under mandible ; legs, feet, and claws dark 

 yellow ; irides yellow. The female is somewhat smaller than the male, but, 

 unhke that of the Little Bustard, it does not otherwise difi'er from the male 

 in its general appearance, except that the crest and neck-plumes are some- 

 what less developed. Males in first plumage are said to resemble females, 

 excep t in being larger. Winter plumage scarcely difl'ers from that of 

 summer. 



