64 BUSTARD 



the Bustard has disproportionately short legs, yet the bulk of its 

 body renders it a conspicuous and stately object, and when on 

 the wing, to which it readily takes, its flight is not inferior in 

 majesty to that of an Eagle. The bill is of moderate length, 

 but, owing to the exceedingly flat head of the bird, appears 

 longer than it really is. The neck, especially of the male in the 

 breeding-season, is thick, as shewn in the first figure, and the tail, 

 in the same sex at that time of year, is generally carried in an 

 upright position, being, however, in the paroxysms of courtship 

 turned forwards, while the head and neck are simultaneously 

 retracted along the back, the wings are lowered, and their shorter 

 feathers erected. In this posture, which has been admirably por- 

 trayed by Mr. Wolf {Zool. Sketches, pi. 45), the bird presents, as 

 will be seen by the second figure, a very strange appearance, 

 for the tail, head, and neck are almost buried amid the upstand- 

 ing feathers before named, and the breasts are protruded to a 

 remarkable extent. The Bustard is of a pale grey on the neck 

 and white beneath, but the back is beautifully barred with russet 

 and black, while in the male, at the height of the breeding-season, 

 a band of deep tawny-brown — in some examples approaching a 

 claret-colour — descends from either shoulder and forms a broad 

 gorget on the breast. The secondaries and greater wing-coverts 

 are white, contrasting vividly, as the bird flies, with the black 

 primaries. Both sexes have the ear-coverts somewhat elongtited 

 — whence doubtless is derived the name Otis (Gr. wrt's) — and the 

 male is adorned with a tuft of long, white, bristly plumes, 

 springing from each side of the base of the mandible. The 

 food of the Bustard consists of almost any of the plants natural 

 to the open country it loves, but in winter it will readily forage 

 on those which are grown by man, and especially coleseed and 

 similar green crops. To this vegetable diet much animal matter 

 is added when occasion off'ers, and from an earthworm to a 

 field-mouse little that lives and moves seems to come amiss to 

 its appetite. 



Though not many birds have had more written about them 

 than the Bustard, much remains to be determined with regard to 

 its economy. A moot point, which will most likely always remain 

 undecided, is whether the British race was migratory or not, 

 though that such is the habit of the species in most parts of the 

 European continent is beyond dispute. Equally uncertain as yet 

 is the question whether it is polygamous or not — the evidence 

 being perhaps in favour of its having that nature. But one of 

 the most singular properties of the bird is the presence in some 

 of the fully-grown males of a pouch or gular sack, opening under 

 the tongue. This extraordinary feature, first discovered by 

 James Douglas, a Scotch physician, and made known by Albin 



