THE GREAT BUSTARD 237 



his bill by pinching their heads, and then swallowed them whole, 

 even when of considerable size. It was easy to observe a largo 

 mouse going down his throat, making a moving tumour till it 

 came to the turn of the neck ; it then moved backwards, and al- 

 though out of sight, yet its progress was traced by the feathers 

 between the shoulders separating, and closing again as soon as it 

 passed into the gizzard. He was fond of worms, and while the gar- 

 dener was digging, stood by him and looked out for them. He 

 ate the buds of flowers, and particularly of roses ; also the sub- 

 stance of cucumbers, but not the outside. From these observa- 

 tions the Bustard is evidently fitted more particularly to live on 

 animal food.' 



The average number of Bustards annually supplied to Chevet, 

 the great game-dealer of the Palais Royal, Paris, about fifty years 

 ago, was six. Its principal place of resort in France was the wild 

 country between Arcis-sur-Aube and Chalons, in most other dis- 

 tricts it was as little known as with us. 



Several authors of undoubted veracity state that the adult male 

 Bustard has a capacious pouch, situated along the fore part of the 

 neck, the entrance of which is under the tongue, capable of hold- 

 ing several quarts of water — it is said not less than seven. Montagu, 

 in his Ornithological Dictionary, e.xpresses his doubt whether the 

 bird could carry as much as seven quarts, or fourteen pounds, 

 while flying ; he admits, however, that ' it is large, as may be seen 

 in the Leverian Museum ' ; and he adds, ' that it is only discover- 

 able in adults, as it is most likely intended for the purpose of 

 furnishing the female and young in the breeding with water.' Of 

 this pouch a fgure is given by Yarrell, copied from Edwards' 

 Gleanings of Natural History, and there inserted on the authority 

 of Dr. James Douglas, the discoverer. Some doubts having arisen 

 in Mr. Yarrell's mind as to the accuracy of the statement, he took 

 much pains to ascertain the truth by dissecting several adult 

 males, and found no peculiarity of structure — a result which was 

 also arrived at by Professor Owen, who dissected one with a view 

 of obtaining a preparation of the supposed pouch for the Museum 

 of the College of Surgeons. A paper by Mr. Yarrell,^ read before 

 the Linnean Society since the publication of his admirable work 

 on Ornithology, contains many other interesting particulars res- 

 pecting this bird, to which the reader is referred. 



Bustards have been seen in England at various intervals during 

 the last eighty or a hundred years, sometimes in small flights and 

 sometimes as solitary specimens, more frequently in Norfolk than 

 in an}' other county, but they have ceased to breed in this country. 

 I lately met a gentleman in Norfolk who weU recollected the time 

 when Bustards were to be met with in that county. On the lands 



^ Jam. Trans,, vol. xxi. p. 155, 



