BUSTARD. 367 



marked with transverse blotches of black ; back marbled as in the 

 former description ; wing coverts black, scapulars the whole length 

 white, the rest of the wing rufous buff, spotted with black ; belly, 

 thighs, and vent, black, with a patch or two of buff on the first ; 

 tail as the back ; legs dirty flesh-colour. 



Inhabits India, called Abluk-Cherui. 



The female does not differ much from that sex described above, 

 but has a greater mixture of black. The name given to this was 

 Tok-dar. 



14.— RUFFED BUSTARD. 



Otis Houbara, Lid. Orn. ii. 660. Gm. Lin. i. 725. Borowsk. Nat. iii. 121. Mus. 



Lev. pi. in p. 215. Tern. Man. d'Orn. 321. Id. Ed. 2d. p. 511. 

 Houbara, Buf. ii. 59. Shaw's Trav. pi. p. 252. Gent. Mag. V. 19. pl.in p. 497. 501. 



Vay. en. Barb. i. 267. Bruce, Trav. Ed. 8vo. vii. pi. 55. 

 Ruffed Bustard, Gen. Syn. iv. 805. 



SIZE of a Capon, but longer. Bill nearly one inch and a half 

 long, and flat, like that of a Starling; plumage in general light dun, 

 or yellowish, marked all over with little brown spots ; head furnished 

 with a white pendent crest ; neck feathers whitish, streaked with 

 black, and very long, capable of being erected as in the cock, and 

 the Ruff Sandpiper; breast, belly, vent, and thighs, dusky white ; 

 larger wing feathers black, each of them marked with a white spot 

 near the middle ; the tail is pale in colour, dotted across with brown, 

 and marked with four or five bars of blackish brown ; legs yellowish 

 brown, with three toes only, placed forwards. So far the description 

 of Shaw ; who adds, that it frequents the deserts of Arabia, and 

 feeds on shrubs and insects ; is often pursued by the Hawk, when it 

 makes a variety of flights and stratagems in order to escape. 



The figure engraved in the last edition of Bruce's Travels is not 

 unlike that in Shaw's Travels, but more squat, and was said to have 

 been shot at Syene, immediately under the Tropic, It is called by 



