I06 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



also eats insects, especially grasshoppers, worms, and other 

 small animals. It seldom runs, even when pursued, for its feet 

 are small ; if alarmed it takes a few quick steps and unfolds 

 its ample wings, flying quickly, though with slow, strong beats, 

 and seldom at much altitude. There is so much white in the 

 bird's wings and on its under parts that, Col. W. Verner says, 

 when flying at a distance it looks as white as a gull. 



Naumann affirmed that the Bustard is monogamous, but 

 Lord Lilford, Mr. Abel Chapman, and Col. Verner found it 

 polygamous. The droves, including more females than males, 

 have their favoured haunts — a habit which proved fatal in 

 Britain and is little to its advantage elsewhere — and there 

 the birds feed day after day, or sit with the head sunk in the 

 breast, Turkey-like, resting in the sun. In spring these gather- 

 ings are not always peaceful, for the male has a wonderful 

 display, an exaggeration of the silly performance of the domestic 

 Turkey-cock, and this swagger usually ends in a fight with a 

 rival. Though there is little bloodshed, feathers fly and are 

 broken, and at times, after a bout, a cock is incapable of flight 

 and is an easy victim for the hunter. The display consists of 

 many contortions ; the tail is spread and brought forward, often 

 meeting the head, which as the bird puffs out its breast and 

 inflates to the full a curious gular pouch or air bladder, is drawn 

 far back. At the same time the wings are drooped, inverted, 

 and apparently dislocated, so that the white axillaries and 

 under surface hide all the coloured feathers ; a brownish bird 

 is " converted into a mass of snowy white, double its natural 

 size." The bird grunts or barks during this performance, but 

 as a rule it is very quiet. Even after the hens have withdrawn 

 to sit their two to four large eggs in a shallow scrape, the 

 cocks, retiring in little groups, continue their foolish rivalry, 

 threatening one another, but if a challenge is accepted the 

 challenger frequently retires ; indeed, as in the fights of the 

 Ruff, much of the show is mere bluster. 



