BUSTARD 



47 



cranes and bustards differ markedly from the rails, and come much 

 nearer the plovers. 



As indicated by their name, bustards are birds of heavy build and 

 slow flight, with a comparatively short beak and moderately long neck 

 and legs ; the latter placed, in the standing posture, nearly at right 

 angles to the axis of the body, with their lower part naked for some 

 distance above the first joint. The two indigenous British repre- 

 sentatives of the group may be included in the typical genus Otis, in 

 which there is no ruff 

 on the sides of the 

 neck, the sexes differ 

 in size or in breeding- 

 plumage, or in both 

 characters together, 

 and there is no dis- 

 tinct crest in the 

 females and males 

 out of the breeding- 

 season. 



Although by no 

 means the tallest, the 

 bustard is the bulkiest 

 of British birds, fully 

 adult cocks weighing 

 as much as 30 lbs. 

 and measuring about 

 42 inches in length. 

 The cock has a tuft of 

 long bristly feathers 

 springing from the bqstakd. 



sides of the head, and 



in the breeding-season develops a long pouch on the throat, which can 

 be blown up with air through a small aperture opening under the tongue. 

 The general colour of the plumage of the upper-parts is ochery yellow 

 barred with black ; while the wings, with the exception of the brownish 

 primary quills, are white ; and the breast shows a conspicuous gorget 

 of rich chestnut and grey, the rest of the under-parts being white. 

 The hens, which are much smaller than their lord and master (for the 

 bustard is a polygamous bird), have no head-bristles, and likewise lack 

 the chestnut gorget. Young birds are like the hens ; and the chicks 

 in down are tawny mottled with dark chestnut, the mottlings being 



