THE GREAT BUSTARD. 



287 



transversely barred with black, and bright rust-color. The be! / is 

 white : and the tail, consisting of twenty feathers, is barred with red 

 and bl;ick. The legs are dusky. On each side of the lower mandible 

 of the bill there is a tuft of feathers about nine inches long. 



The female is not much more than half the size of the male. The 

 top of her head is of a deep orange, and the rest of the head brown. Iler 

 colors are not so bright as those of the male, and she wants the tuft 

 en eaih side of the head. 



There is one very essential distinction between the male and the 



female of this spe- 

 cies. The for mar 

 is furnished with 

 a sac or pouch, 

 situated in the fore 

 part of the neck, 

 and capable of 

 containing more 

 than two quarts of 

 water. The en- 

 trance to this 

 pouch is inrwnedi- 

 arely under the 

 tongue. This sin- 

 gular reserv(jir was 

 first discovered by 

 Dr. Douglass, wlio 

 supposes tliat the 

 bird fills it with 

 water, to supply 

 its thirst in the 

 midst (;f those ex- 

 tensive plains 

 where it is accus- 

 tomed to wander. 

 The Bustard like- 

 wise makes a fur 

 ther use of, it, in 

 defending itself 

 against the attacks 

 of birds of prey : 

 on these occasions 

 it throws out the water with such violence, as not unfrequently to 

 baflle the pursuit of its enemy. 



This bird makes no neat, but the female lays her eggs in some hollow 



Elace of the ground, in a dry corn field; these are two in number, as 

 ig as those of a goose, and of a pale olive brown, marked with spots 

 of a deeper color. If, during her absence from the nest, any one handle 

 or even breathe upon the eggs, she immediately abandons them. The 

 young ones follow the dam soon after they are excluded from the egg^ 

 out they are not capable foi some time of flying. 



GREAT BUSTARD. — MALE. 



