220 



OTITID^. 



time to get tbem, and the usual method is by stalking^ them on a well- 

 trained camel, driven by an experienced shikaree. The camel is made 

 to circle round and round the bird, and the moment the bird perceives 

 this it crouches down, trusting to its colour, which is exactly that of 

 the ground, and to being so exactly similar when in this position to 

 the several stones lying around it, to escape observation. The circle 

 gradually becomes smaller and smaller, until the bird is brought 

 within range. Most men shoot it on the ground, but as a rule I have 

 found it better sport and easier to let the bird rise before firing, and 

 then dropping it on the wing. The bird, fancying that (like an ostrich) 

 when its head is hidden its whole body is out of sight, seldom, if ever, 

 moves unless the camel stops in its circling, and even then its flight 

 is so slow, as to make it almost impossible even for an ordinary shot to 

 miss. 



" As a game bird, the Oobara is perhaps one of the greatest delicacies 

 that can be put upon the table, while its feathers are invaluable to the 

 fisherman for salmon fl.ies ; and thei-e is a little tuft of feathers just 

 under the point of the shoulder which is greatly prized by the fair sex 

 as an ornament for hats. 



" All about Kurrachee is a very fawourite country for Oobara, but, 

 as may be imagined, anywhere within a radius of eight or ten miles 

 they do not get much rest, and, in order to make a really good bag, it 

 is now necessary to go beyond that distance. The nearest g-ood spot I 

 know of, where a day's sport can be had without finding another man 

 stalking over the same plain, is about twenty-five miles by rail." At 

 Mayting and Jempeer stations, on the S. P. and D. line, this Bustard is 

 numerous, and it is not uncommon to see a bag from these places of 

 from 10 to 12 a day. 



Gen, Sypheotides. 



Bill broad at base and ridged above; nostrils elongate; more than 

 half of tibia bare. 



Sypheotides auritUS, Lafh.; Jard. and SeJhy, III. Orn. pi. 49, 92; 

 P. G. 533; Jerd. B. lad. in. p. 619, No. 839; Murray, Hdbk, Zool, Sfc, 

 Bind, p. 207; Str. F. vol. iv. p. 10. {Likh, Sind.) — Tbe Lessee 



FLOPaKIN. 



Male. — Head, neck, breast, ear tufts and entire lower parts, black, 

 paler on the vent and under tail-coverts; chin white, a few of the 

 elongated feathers under the chin white mesially; lower part of hind 

 nock and large wing patch white ; back, scapulars and npper tail- 

 coverts fulvous, mottled with buff and dark brown ; tail brighter 

 buff, with motfclings and three distinct bands, the last, subterminal; first 

 three or four primaries dark or dusky brown, the rest broadly barred 

 with rufous or bright bufi", the long narrow tips mottled; ear tufts 

 three on each side, the shafts of the feathers bare for nearly three- fourths 

 their length from their base. 



Tbe Femcdo is pure buff throughout, clouded and barred with deep 



