— f » — .
Otis tetrax, Linne.
o '
V e r n a c u l a r I T a m e s . - l C h o t a uuu.] §HE Butterfly Houbara, as Indian sportsmen in the
North-West have not inappropriately designated
the Little Bustard of Europe, is a regular and tolerably
abundant winter visitant to the northern portions
of the Trans-Indus Punjab.
Cis-Indus, they can only be considered rare and
occasional stragglers. In December 1878, Colonel
Macleod, R.A., shot a fine male of this species, near Gurdaspur,
and about the same time Mr. O. Greig shot a female at
Balawala on the bank above the Ganges Kadar in the Saharanpur
District ; and, though others must doubtless have occurred in
the submontane tracts of the Punjab and North-Western
Provinces, these are, I believe, the only instances on record of
their being brought to bag.
Out of India, the Little Bustard is common in suitable localities
in Southern Europe and Northern Africa, adjoining the
basin of the Mediterranean. It straggles to Northern Europe,
even to the British Islands and Sweden. It occurs, and very
numerously, in some places, in Syria, A s i a Minor, the Caucasus,
Northern Persia,* Kabul and Northern Beluchistan, and throughout
the tract of country lying between the Caspian and Western
Yarkand, whence we have specimens from Yangihissar, Kashgar
and other places in the plains between these and Sanju.
It does not appear to go north across the Tian Shan, or
eastwards into Mongolia or China ; neither Radde, Prjcvalski,
nor David include it in their lists.
THE FLIGHT of this species is very different to that of our other
Bustards ; they often rise to a great height, and will flutter
and twist about in the air (though they can fly with considerable
rapidity and straight enough) in a way that has earned for
them the local trivial name above alluded to. Whilst on the
wing, they call continuously.
* T h e birds seen on one of the Islands of the Tersian Gulf by Blanford (Zool.
Ters. 287) were probably Houbara, which I have ascertained breed on sumc o.
these.