136 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



form of a necklace all round the neck. Length 17 inches ; wing 

 9|. The female has less white than the male ; wants the white 

 ring, and the neck is coloured like the back. In winter the males 

 are said to resemble females. This small Bustard, or what in India 

 would be called a Florikin, occurs throughout Central and West- 

 ern Asia, and North Africa, and is said at times to be gregarious. 

 It is stated to frequent open plains, and to feed chiefly on vege- 

 table matter. 



Africa appears to be the Head Quarters of the Bustard family, 

 and there are several forms peculiar to that Continent, whence 

 some spread into Arabia. Otis rhaad, Shaw, O. ccendescens. 

 Yieill., ( Verrauxii, A. Smith), and 0. scolopacea, Temminck, 

 (Vigorsii, Smith), are classed by Bonaparte under Tracheitis, 

 Eeichenbach ; and O. afra, Linn., and 0. afroides, Smith, are 

 placed under Afrotis, Bonaparte. The last two Bustards (if really 

 distinct from each other) have quite the coloration of the Syphe- 

 otides group ; and the same remark applies to O. rhaad. 



Otis senegalensis, Vieillot., {rhaad apud Rupell) and 0. melano- 

 gaster, Ruppell, are placed under Lissotis, Eeich. The latter 

 also has much the plumage of a Sypheotides in non-breeding 

 dress. Perhaps, from a want of knowledge of the changes of plu- 

 mage of these birds, some of the above species will require to be 

 withdrawn. 



Tribe Longirostres, Cuvier. 



Bill more or less lengthened, slender, and feeble ; wings usually 

 long and pointed ; tail short ; tarsus moderately long ; toes mode- 

 rate, the exterior one generally joined to the middle toe by a 

 short web, and the hallux short and raised, absent in a very few. 



This tribe contains a number of generally small wading birds, 

 classed by Linmeus in Scolopax and Tringa, and many closely 

 resembling each other in colour and conformation. Most have a 

 double moult, and the change of plumage is considerable in 

 many. All are migratory, and several associate in winter in large 

 flocks ; others are more or less solitary. They feed on small 

 molluscs, worms, and Crustacea, for which they bore in the soft 

 mud of rivers, lakes, or marshes ; and the bill of some is peculiarly 

 sensitive at the tip. They nidificate on the ground, laying usually 



