THE GREAT BUSTARD 71 



food. A separation of the sexes into distinct 

 flocks has been remarked at this season. During 

 the summer immature birds remain in bands. In 

 no part of its distribution are the migrations of 

 this Bustard very pronounced. The bird is a very 

 conspicuous one on the open steppes, especially 

 before the grain or other herbage has grown 

 sufficiently high to conceal it. Like most ground 

 birds, it can make very good use of its legs, and if 

 driven to flight soon passes out of danger with 

 slow and deliberate beats of its ample wings. Its 

 food is chiefly of a vegetable character, — grain, 

 seeds, and the leaves and buds of plants, — but 

 insects, mice, lizards, and frogs are also eaten. The 

 usual note is a kind of grunt, and a hissing sound 

 is produced by both sexes when alarmed or excited. 

 This Bustard is said by some observers to be poly- 

 gamous, but the balance of evidence seems to be in 

 favour of monogamous habits, the birds pairing 

 every spring. The greater scarcity of cock birds 

 in England during the later years of the Bustard's 

 occupation may have led to the assumption that 

 several females lived under the protection of one 

 male. The display of the cock Bustard in the 

 pairing season is one of the most remarkable 

 performances of its kind among birds. The nest- 



