mac queen's bustard. 821 



A moult apparently confined to body -feathers takes place Feb.- 

 March. Plumage as winter. 



Adult female. Winter and summer. — Like male but centre of 

 crown with little white and black feathers shorter ; nape buff 

 vermiculated black ; throat more strongly vermiculated black ; 

 gular tuft much smaller, feathers shorter and not so pale ash-grey, 

 under feathers more heavily barred and vermiculated black ; lower- 

 flanks and under tail-coverts more lightly barred and vermiculated 

 than in male ; outer primaries more tinged with rufous -buff at 

 base of black portion. 



Nestling. — General pattern and appearance much like that of 

 Great Bustard but on upper-parts pale stripes and blotches white 

 and dark ones with down golden-buff with longish black tips, under - 

 parts white and throat with two irregular lines and oval blotches of 

 buff outlined with blackish. Down is replaced by feathers. 



Juvenile. — (Not examined.) 



First winter. Male. — Like adult female ; outer primaries 

 sometimes mottled white at tips, tail-feathers sometimes with 

 narrow brown bar at tips. Female. — Like adult female but scarcely 

 any black and usually no elongated feathers on crown ; gular tuft 

 smaller and feathers usually darker and often tipped black, under 

 feathers usually more vermiculated ; tail-feathers with bars brown 

 and only tinged slate and a narrow brown bar at tips ; outer 

 primaries with small mottled white tips ; secondaries more or less 

 vermiculated at tips. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 383-430 mm., tail 185- 

 205, tarsus 93-102, bill from feathers 35-42 (12 measured). $ wing 

 345-380, bill 32-36. Primaries : 3rd and 4th longest, 2nd usually 

 as long, sometimes 5-10 mm. shorter, 1st 30-50 shorter, 5th 10-30 

 shorter, 6th 75-90 shorter ; 2nd to 5th abruptly and 6th slightly 

 emarginated outer webs, 1st to 4th abruptly and 5th slightly 

 emarginated inner webs. Outer secondaries slightly shorter than 

 10th primary, innermost as long as 6th or 7th, tips rounded. Tail 

 rounded, 20 feathers, tips rounded. Bill with proximal half flat 

 and broad and somewhat depressed, distal half rather slender. 

 Nostrils large and oval. Legs and feet as in Great Bustard. 



Soft parts. — Bill brownish-black ; legs and feet pale straw- 

 colour ; iris very bright, pale straw-colour. 



Characters and allied forms. — C. u. undulata (Sahara) has black 

 vermiculations of upper-parts, wing-coverts and tail coarser, upper 

 feathers of tuft at sides of neck entirely black and upper feathers of 

 gular tuft vermiculated dark brown ; C. u. fuertaventurce (E. 

 Canaries) has upper-parts, wing-coverts and tail considerably darker 

 than last, more thickly vermiculated and barred with black-brown. 

 Size intermediate between Great and Little Bustards, sandy 

 coloured upper-parts and long black and white neck-tufts distin- 

 guish species. 



Field -characters. — One seen by me in Yorkshire (Oct., 1896) 



