Tas. LX XII. 
OTIS NIGRICEPS. 
Ot. corpore supra pallidé badio, rufo-brunneo graciliter undulato; collo, maculis parcis alarum, 
abdomimeque albis ; capite cristato, tectricibus alarum eaterioribus, remigibus, notaque grandi 
pectoral nigris. 
Longitudo corporis ab apice rostri ad apicem caude, ped. 4; latitudo, 44. 
Tus magnificent bird is one of the largest and finest of its genus, of which it is a typical example, possessing 
the general habits and manners of its race. Though the specimen from which the figure in this Plate is taken 
was brought from the high lands of the Himalaya, it is by no means confined to that locality, as Lieut. Col. 
Sykes noticed it abundantly in the country of the Mahrattas, where it is accounted one of the greatest delicacies 
of the table. According to the accounts furnished by this diligent and accomplished observer, the species 
lives in flocks consisting of numerous individuals, inhabiting the wide and open country. The male possesses 
the gular pouch common to the Ofis tarda, It appears to incubate on the naked earth, the egg being oval, 
of an olive brown with obscure spots of darker brown olive. The female resembles the male in plumage, but 
is nearly one third less. 
The top of the head and crest are jet black; the neck white; the upper surface and tail are of a rich 
brown colour barred with small zigzag lines of black ; the outer wing-coverts are black with a few white spots; 
the under surface white, except a large black band across the chest, passing from shoulder to shoulder ; the 
bill and tarsi are yellowish. 
The figure is one third of the natural size. 
