3 5 -
INDIAN B.
D e s c r i p t i o n .
Female.
Place.
io.
PASSARAGE B,
D escription.
Indian Buftard, Gen. Syn. iv, p. 804. N® 5.
' J 'H IS bird, which is called in India, Charge, weighs from twelve
to fourteen pounds. The male has the head, neck, breaft, and
under parts, black, but the latter incline to alh-colour: the back
beautifully mottled with reddilh brown and black, as in our Buf-
tard: wing covfcrts white: quills black : bill and legs pale a tricolour.
T h e female is very like our female Bujlard. The general colour
pale alb, clouded and undulated with darker and blackith:
head, neck, and belly, plain.
Thefe are found in plenty in various parts o f India, where they
are eaten, and much efteemed *. I ftill retain an idea o f the
probability o f this and my White-eared Buftard being the fame,
as they difFer very little, except in the white patch on the ear,
one from the other.
C I Z E of the Little Buftard: length eighteen inches. Bill long
and (lender, brown and white: the head, neck, bread, and
belly, bla ck: on the ears a large white patch: junttion o f the
neck and back white: the whole back, wings, and tail, black,
with a net-work o f the fined lines o f black and"brown furrounding
the melhes o f black : the greater wing coverts are white : on
the hind head are four pairs of capillary feathers; each pair of different
lengths, and dilating at their ends into a lance-lhaped tuft
the longed four inches, the Ihorted fcarce riling in fight: the legs
are drong, and o f a pale yellow: toes divided to their origin.
* Mr. Middleton*
Inhabits
Inhabits India, Called Pajfarage Plover *. The fimilarity
o f markings in this and my White-eared Buftard are worth obferva-
tion, as one drawing might aimed ferve to reprefent both birds;
but the lad deferibed, being much fmaller in fize, with the
addition o f the long capillary feathers on the ears, feem to
determine its being a different fpecies.
In the poffefiion o f Mrs. Wheeler I find a fpecimen o f a bird,
which I fuppofe to be the female o f the above. It is nineteen
inches or more in length, and the plumage not unlike that o f the
Little Buftard, but lefs delicate in its markings. I find that it is
known in India by the name o f Oorail -, by fome o f the Englijh
called Flercher. It is much edeemed, confequently greatly
fought after j but though it is not uncommon, very few are taken,
as it is a very lhy bird. The flelh o f the bread is part white, pare
brown, and is accounted a great delicacy.
* Lady Imply,
Place,
O r d u