THE RUFFED BUSTARDS. 
123 
Eggs —Three or four in number; olive-brown to olive-green, 
or stone-colour in tint, the markings being very inconspicuous, 
so that the general aspect of the egg is uniform. The under- 
lying markings are dusky and scarcely distinguishable, while 
the overlying ones are obscure olive or reddish-brown. Axis, 
i'p5-2'25 ; diam., i'5“i’6. 
THE RUFFED BUSTARDS. GENUS HOUBAR.\. 
Jloubara, Bp. Saggio Met. Ucc. Europ. p. 144 (1831). 
Type, H. undiilata (Jacq.). 
The Ruffed Bustards belong to the section of the Family 
which have an overhanging shield of feathers on the crop. In 
the genus Iloulmra the crown has an erectile crest of narrow 
feathers, and on the sides of the neck is a large ruff of soft 
feathery plumes. The tarsus is very short. 
Two species of Ruffed Bustard are known, Macquecn’s Bus- 
tard of the British list, and the Mediterranean Ruffed Bustard 
(h. tmdiilala), the ranges of which are given below. 
I. macqueen's bustard, houbara macqueenii. 
Otis macqueeni, J. E. Gray; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 395, pi. 
511 (1876); Seebohm, Brit. B. ii. p. 591 (1884); Saun- 
ders, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. iii. p. 221 (1884) ; id. Man. Brit. 
B. p. 153 (1889). 
Iloubuf'a macqueenii^ B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 154 (1883) ; 
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 318 (1894). 
Adult Male. — Freckled above with sandy and blackish, like 
other Bustards, but easily distinguished by its facial characters 
and ruff. The crown of the head is sandy-brown in colour, 
minutely freckled with blackish, and ornamented in the centre 
with a crest of a few elongated feathers, which are white tipped 
with black ; the occiput and nape greyish-white, with dusky 
frecklings ; the hind-neck covered with down of a sandy-buff 
colour ; on the sides of the crown a lateral crest of white, slightly 
freckled on the feathers over the eye ; lores and feathers round 
the eye white, with elongated black hair-like shafts to the 
feathers ; the sides of the face and ear-coverts pale sandy-buff. 
