CRANES, RAILS, AND BUSTARDS 71 



red shield on the forehead and the white patches beneath the tail. 

 Though an extremely timid bird in a wild state, it yet thrives well 

 in the ornamental waters of public parks ; such as those of 

 London, for example, where it speedily becomes tame. 



The Coot (Plate XIII. fig. 7) is a larger bird than the Water-hen, 

 and easily distinguished by the broad white shield on the forehead 

 and the absence of white below the tail. It is a particularly common 

 bird on some of the Norfolk broads. 



Young Coots — while still in the nestling-down plumage — have 

 the head ornamented by numerous little fleshy warts of a vermilion- 

 red colour, while the rest of the down plumage is, as in the case of 

 the Rail tribe generally, jet black in colour. 



The Bustards were at one time believed to be closely related to 

 the Plover tribe, but it is now known that they are more nearly 

 related to the Cranes. They are birds which love dry, sandy wastes, 

 and as a rule fly but little. 



The Little Bustard (Plate XIII. fig. 2) is a bird which 

 occasionally visits Great Britain, favouring the eastern countries 

 mostly. It is common in certain parts of Europe, especially the 

 Spanish Peninsula ; in Africa, north of the Sahara, it is abundant, 

 while the same may be said of it during the winter months in North- 

 western India. 



Quite a different story is to be told of the Great Bustard (Plate 

 XIII. fig. 8), since this bird was at one time commonly to be met 

 with in certain parts of Great Britain, especially the heaths of 

 Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, the wolds of Lincolnshire, 

 the downs of Sussex, and Salisbury Plain. In Scotland it was to be 

 met with, though sparingly, in parts of Berwickshire and East 

 Lothian. The enclosures of waste land, the planting of trees, and 

 the increase of population have now, however, driven this, the largest 

 of our British birds, from all its strongholds, so that to-day, so far 

 as Great Britain is concerned, the Great Bustard is extinct. This 

 is greatly to be regretted, for, without question, it was one of the 

 most interesting of our native birds. And at no time was this so 

 evident as during the period when the males were courting. Then, 

 indeed, they performed the strangest antics, throwing up the tail over 

 the back, drooping the wings, and inflating the neck till it assumed 



