Allen’s naturalist’s Library* 
1 16 
Lvclekkcr from the Miocene of Bavaria. At present only 
two representatives of the genus Otis are known, one being 
the Otis tarda of Europe and Western Asia, which is 
replaced by O. dybmskii in Eastern Siberia and China. 
All the Bustards have a wavy or freckled plumage, and 
some of them have a largely developed shield of feathers 
over the crop, composed of the elongated plumes of the 
lower throat and fore-neck. To this section belongs Mac- 
queen’s Bustard, mentioned later. The True Bustards how- 
ever, have no such appendage, though the crop is of a bright 
chestnut-colour, and is capable of being distended to an enor- 
mous extent, when the bird “ shows off dunng the breeding 
season The “ Great ” Bustard is so called in contrast to the 
'“Little” Bustard {Tetrax but it is by no means the 
largest of the Family, as there are several species which ex- 
ceed Otis tarda in size. In the genus Otis there is no crest 
on the nape or hind-neck, but no other genus possesses the 
curious whisker-like plumes on the cheeks, which are so promi- 
nent an ornament in O. tarda and its Asiatic ally. 
I THE GREAT BUSTARD. OTIS TARDA. 
Otis tarda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 264 (1766); Macg. Brit B 
iv p (1852); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 369. pl- 5°S 
fi'87 2)- B O. U. List Br. B. p. 153 (1883); Saunders, 
ed. Yarr. Brit. B. hi. p. i 93 (1884); Seebohm, Brit B. 11. 
D =;8i (1884); Saunders, Man. Bnt. B. p. 509 (1889); 
Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxi. (1892); Sharpe, Cat. 
B. Brit. Mus. xxxiii. p. 285 (1894). 
{Plate LX XIV.) 
Adult Male.— General colour above sandy-rufous, with broad 
transverse bands of black, especially on the b.ack and scapu- 
, . the upper tail-coverts and tail similarly banded, but ot 
a lighter and more vinous-chestnut tint; tail-feathers tipped 
with white, the outer ones white at the base, and the three 
outermost almost entirely white, with a broad sub-terminal 
band of black ; lesser wing-coverts like the back, with some- 
what wider black bars ; median and greater coverts, bastard- 
wing and primary-coverts white, powdered with grey towards 
their ends: quills brown, with white bases ; the primpes white- 
shafted, and blackish at the tip and on the outer web ; second- 
