INDIAN IIOUBARA BUSTARD. 125 



that I consider them to be doubtfully distinct, but Gould and 

 other late writers still separate them, the black on the crest of the 

 Indian bird being one of the chief distinctions. 



The Indian Houbara is found throughout the plains of the 

 Punjab and Upper Sindh, occasionally crossing the Sutlej and the 

 Indus lower down, and it has been killed at Ferozepore, Hansi, 

 and in various parts of Hurriana, but no records exist of its 

 occurrence eastwards of Delhi. It is probably a permanent re- 

 sident, as no notice is given of its occurring at any particular 

 season. It frequents open sandy and grassy plains, or undulating 

 sandy ground with scattered tufts of grass, also wheat and other 

 grain fields ; and is generally met with in such bare and open ground 

 that, being shy and wary, it is approached with difficulty, ex- 

 cept in the heat of the day, when it lies down in a thick tuft, 

 or other shelter, and can be approached with ease. Major James 

 Sherwill informed me that it is very abundant across the Indus 

 at Derajat and towards the frontier of Sindh; and that a black 

 hawk which hunts in pairs often kills a wounded bird, and has 

 been seen to strike a sound one. The Houbara is much hawked 

 both in the Punjab and Sindh, and the Falcon exclusively used 

 for this purpose is the Charragh {Falco sacer, vol. 1, p. 30). It 

 occasionally baffles the Falcon by ejecting a horribly stinking 

 fluid which besmears and spoils the plumage of the hawk ; just 

 as, in Africa, its congener is stated to behave towards the Sakr 

 falcon. Adams states that it is very destructive to young wheat 

 fields in winter, eating the young shoots, but its chief food is 

 doubtless insects of various kinds. The flesh is said to be ex- 

 ceedingly tender, and is. often so loaded with fat, that skins are 

 with difficulty dried and preserved. 



This species is common in the bare stony plains of Affghanistan, 

 where it is stated to occur in packs of five or six together, to fly 

 heavily, and for a short distance only, soon alighting and running, 

 and is there called Dugdaor. It also occurs in various other 

 parts of Asia, in Mesopotamia and elsewhere; it has been 

 occasionally killed in Europe, and one specimen was shot in 

 England in Lincolnshire, which had its craw filled with caterpil- 

 lars, snails, and beetles. 



