218 OTITID^. 



Male. — Top of head and crest black ; sides of the face, neck all 

 round, breast and entire lower parts white ; the feathers of the breast 

 and lower part of the neck long and hackled, those of the breast 

 covered with minute dusky mottlings ; a dark band across the breast ; 

 back, scapulars, wing and upper tail-coverts brown, pale buff, 

 or grey brown, beautifully mottled and vermiculated with minute 

 black striae ; primaries snuff brown, darker on their inner webs, and 

 tipped with white ; some of the inner ones with 3 — 4 white patches 

 on their inner webs ; secondaries slaty, much irrorated basally, and 

 broadly tipped with white; tertials as long as the primaries, con- 

 colorous with the back, also the lesser wing-coverts ; median coverts 

 black, tipped with white; greater wing-coverts slaty grey, also tipped 

 with white. Tail like the back with a subterminal dark band and 

 tipped with white ; flanks and sides dark brown, mixed with whitish 

 or dark olive brown ; vent and lower tail-coverts the same as the 

 back, with white tippings to the feathers. 



Male. — Length 45 to 50 inches, expanse of 85 — 95 inches, wing 245 

 to 29. 



Female.— Length 36 to 38 inches, wings 20 to 22, legs and feet 

 creamy yellow, irides yellow, bill yellowish at tip, dusky at the base. 



Hal). — Siud (Thurr and Parkur), Punjab. N. W. Provinces, Kutch, 

 Rajputana, N. Guzerat, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, HydrabadDeccan, Poona, 

 Sattara, Berars, and the Central Provinces. According to Mr. Doig, 

 [Hume, Game -Birds) it is a permanent resident and breeds in the Thurr 

 and Parkur districts. It is said to wander occasionally in the cold 

 weather to the plains along the edge of the desert, sometimes going even 

 as far as the Indus. It feeds on grain and insects, and frequents the 

 cultivated districts at other than in the breeding season. Jerdon has 

 an excellent description of its habits, &c. Breeds from July to Septem- 

 ber, laying from one to two eggs in a depression in the ground 

 behind tufts of grass or small bushes, lined very sparingly with thin 

 gi'ass. 



Gen. Houltara. — Bonap. 



Legs shorter than Eup'odotis; bill rather lengthened and depressed 

 at the base ; males ruffed; no hind toe. 



Houbara macqueenii. Gray, Ill.Ind. Zool. pi. 47; Gould. B. As. 

 pi. 8; Jerdon, B. Lid. iii. p. 612; Murray, Hdbk., ZuoL, Sfc, Bind, p. 

 204. {Tilloor, Sind.) — The Hodbaea Bustaed. 



Male. — Head crested ; forehead minutely speckled with greyish 

 brown and white; crown with a crest of elongate feathers, which are 

 white at the base and tipped black ; the feathers behind the crest resting 

 immediately on the crown entirely white; head behind, ear-coverts 

 and neck pencilled with pale brown and white ; a patch of downy 

 feathers at the base of the neck in mounted specimens, not seen 

 in those freshly killed. The ruff begins immediately behind the ear- 

 coverts with elongated feathers, one-half of which are white at the base 

 for more than one-half their length, and the rest shining black ; the 



