THE LESSER FLORICAN OR LIKH. 41 



is very good. In winter the plumage of the male resembles 

 that of the female. 



Note, that in the fullest breeding plumage, the males gener- 

 ally have the ear tufts longer, and have the whole upper surface, 

 and especially the tail, darker and less rufescent than in the 

 specimen figured. 



Also, that in the females the upper surface is often much 

 darker, the bufify margins of the feathers being reduced to 

 mere lines. 



That the Bustards are originally an African family is patent, 

 since at least 20 (and possibly 22) species, other than those 

 with which we have dealt, are already known from that 

 Continent. 



Still, as will have been seen, both tarda and tetrax might be 

 classed rather as Palaearctic than African ; three species are 

 peculiar to India, of which one extends to the very eastern- 

 most limits of Assam, and, strange to say, one species, very 

 closely allied to our Great Indian Bustard, occurred, some fifty 

 years ago, almost throughout Australia, though now extinct, or 

 nearly so, in the more densely inhabited portions of the country. 



We have now to deal with the Sand-Grouse, and in the first 

 instance, with the feathered-footed section of these, which 

 constitutes the genus Syrrhaptes. Only two species of this 

 genus are known — the Thibetan bird, which we shall discuss 

 immediately, and 5. paradoxus. This latter species " ranges 

 from the plains of Pekin and Tientsin, through Mongolia and 

 the Great Gobi Desert into the Kirgiz Steppes, occasionally 

 wandering into parts of Western Europe in more or less con- 

 siderable numbers. The year 1863 was notable for a great 

 western migration of this species, flocks of considerable size 

 having been observed even in Ireland."* 



* D. G. Elliot. 



