LITTLE BUSTARD. 219 



in a peculiar manner on liis descent.* At this season his 

 throat is said to become dilated. The males fight for the 

 possession of the females, but instead of uniting in flocks 

 whilst the latter are incubating, each male is to be found in 

 the vicinity of a hen : that is to say, the birds are in pairs, 

 which looks as if the species was not polygamous. 



The nest is on the ground, among herbage which is suffi- 

 ciently high to hide the bird ; the eggs, three to four, and 

 rarely five, in number, are of a very glossy olive-brown, 

 clouded with darker patches, sometimes zoned with rufous, 

 and occasionally of a pale greenish ground-colour ; they 

 measure about 1'95 by 1*5 in. The first clutch is laid 

 about the end of May, and a second is frequently produced 

 in the latter part of July. 



The food of this species consists of herbs, grain, and 

 insects ; in a specimen killed at Harwich, the body of which 

 was examined, the stomach contained parts of leaves of the 

 white turnip, lungwort, dandelion, and a few blades of grass. 

 The flesh had the appearance and flavour of that of a young- 

 hen Pheasant. The young eat insects, slugs, and small 

 snails, and even frogs and field-mice with avidity, and the 

 diet of the adult is by no means exclusively vegetable, 

 although necessarily so in the winter season, at which the 

 birds visit this country. The males rise with a loud clatter 

 of wings, but the females sit remarkably close. In the 

 autumn the birds unite and form large flocks, which after- 

 wards break up into smaller parties. 



The adult male, when in the plumage peculiar to the 

 breeding-season, has the beak brown ; the irides golden- 

 yellow ; the top of the head sandy-brown, mottled with 

 black ; cheeks, ear-coverts, the front and sides of the neck, 

 bluish-grej^ deepening into a border of black passing to the 

 back of the neck ; below this a narrow white ring all round 

 the neck, and below this a broad collar and gorget of black, 

 followed by a band of white and another of black at the 

 bottom of the neck in front ; shoulders, back, scapulars, 



* The latter portion of the French name Canepetiere, is generally supposed 

 to refer to this peculiar seasonal note. 



