OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 107 



Habits. — The present species is another bird of the wide, vast plains, and 

 resembles in its habits the preceding species. But Httle is known of the economy 

 of Macqueen's Bustard during its residence in Turkestan and Siberia, whither it 

 retires in summer to breed, but its habits have been carefully studied during its 

 sojourn in India, where it is a common bird during the cold season, arriving in 

 September and leaving in March or April. Here it frequents by preference the 

 slightly undulating sandy and semi-desert plains, which are studded with patches 

 of scrub, amongst which salsolas, lemon grass, and acacia bushes are conspicuous. 

 On these vast plains this Bustard may be observed running about in the morning 

 and evening, resting under the shelter of a bush during the hottest part of the 

 day. It always prefers to run rather than to fly, and is capable of threading its 

 way through the tangled scrub with great speed. Where the cover is short it 

 runs with head and neck held low, but when it reaches the higher bushes it stops 

 and stretches out its neck to look round at its pursuers. Sometimes the bird will 

 then squat close to the ground and remain motionless, where its brown plumage 

 so effectually conceals it from detection that it allows the observer to pass and 

 repass within a very few paces without making a movement. Macqueen's Bustard 

 is often stalked with the aid of a camel, that animal being so familiar to the bird 

 that it takes but little notice of its approach. By riding round the Bustards in 

 ever narrowing circles, the hunter is enabled to get within shot. Sometimes the 

 birds squat to the ground, and remain so until the camel walks almost over them, 

 when they rise in a slow, heavy manner, and afford an easy shot. Sometimes a 

 Bustard, instead of squatting, will hide behind a bush and walk round and round 

 as the hunter does, always contriving to keep the bush between itself and the 

 enemy. Macqueen's Bustard is said to be a very silent species ; and Hume 

 never heard it utter a sound under any circumstances whatever. The food of 

 this species is almost entirely of a vegetable character, and Hume states that of 

 hundreds he examined, lizards or snakes were never found in its stomach. In 

 India it feeds largely on the fruit of the ber, the berries of the grewia, and the 

 tender shoots of the lemon grass and other herbs, varying this fare with insects 

 and small snails. 



Nidification. — Of the habits of Macqueen's Bustard during the breeding 

 season little or nothing is known, and the nest has never been described. Eggs 

 obtained by collectors employed by Herr Tancre on the Altai Mountains are 

 buf&sh or olive-brown in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with rich dark 

 brown, pale brown, and dull grey. They measure on an average 2'55 inches in 

 length by 1'75 inch in breadth. 



Diagnostic characters. — Houbam,with the upper parts buff, finely ver- 

 miculated with black, tail crossed with three dark bars, the head crested and the 

 neck ruffed. Length, 28 inches. 



