A Preliminary Study on the Nesting Success in Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii) Population in Mulei Xinjiang

Nesting success of Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii) was stu died in Mulei,Xinjiang from April to June,1998.A total of 16 nests and 25 bro ods were found.A bimodal distribution of laying dates suggested the existence o a replacement clutch.3 to 6 eggs were laid with the fresh weight of (64.7±5 .8)g and the size of 60.9 mm×43.9 mm.The clutch size was (4.1±0.8) for the first clutch cohort and (3.5±0.6) for the second clutch cohort.The nes ting success was 87.5%.The hatchability was 83.6%.Brood size keep the same within broods between hatching and fledging.This suggested that some females wer e very good at bringing their chicks to fledging.