1 8 THE HOUBARA. 



who says he got the African form in Armenia, preserved no 

 specimens, and Tristram, who found it common in the Jordan 

 valley, fancied that the two birds were identical, and also pro- 

 cured no specimens. In some of the islands of the Persian 

 Gulf, our species has been obtained ; indeed, a few pairs are 

 supposed to have bred in an island near Fau a few years ago ; 

 probably both in Armenia and in the eastern portions of 

 Arabia it is our bird that occurs. 



I HAVE never known the Houbara to be shot earlier in India 

 than the 27th of August, and the usual time for their appear- 

 ance in the Sirsa district, for instance, is (earlier or later accord- 

 ing to season) during the first fortnight in September. 



They leave again towards the close of March, or early in 

 April, according as the hot weather closes in earlier or later, and 

 quite in the extreme north-west I have heard of a straggler 

 being shot on the 28th April. It is clearly the heat that drives 

 them away, and just before they leave, I have noticed that dur- 

 ing the hottest part of the day they lie like stones and will 

 barely run or fly. 



Although pairs, and even single birds, are not unfrequently 

 met with, the Houbara with us is eminently gregarious, and 

 I have put up as many as twenty in a single flight. 



Some sportsmen think that females greatly preponderate, 

 and this may be so in particular parties, but I have never no- 

 ticed it ; and I see that in the Sirsa district, between the 16th 

 and the 22nd November 1867, I killed 83 birds, 47 of which 

 were males, which, even allowing for the males getting the pre- 

 ference when a choice occurs, as being the finest and largest 

 birds, does not look like any preponderance of females. 



I have never heard this bird utter any sound, either when 

 feeding undisturbed, or when suddenly flushed, or when 

 wounded and seized, or about to be seized, by man or dog. 

 Possibly during the breeding season the males have some 

 call. 



By preference, the Houbara affects the nearly level, though 

 slightly undulating, sandy semi-desert plains, which constitute 

 so important a feature in the physical geography of Western 

 India. Plains, semi-desert indeed, but yet affording in places 

 thin patches, in places a continuous sea, of low scrubby cover, 

 in which the dwarf Zizyphus, (the Ber), the Lana {Anabasis 

 multiflord)y the Booee {ALrua bovii), various Salsolas, stunted 

 Acacia bushes, and odorous tufts of lemon grass are conspi- 

 cuous. 



Here the Houbara trots about early and late, squatting under 

 the shade of some bush, during the sunniest hours of the day, 

 feeding very largely on the small fruit of the Ber, or the berries 

 of the Grewia, or the young shoots of the lemon grass, and 

 other herbs ; now picking up an ant or two, now a grasshopper 



