130 The Great Bustard. 
naked above the knee, very muscular and strong; its toes three 
only in number, and these very short, united at the base, and all 
directed forwards; its wings of mean length, but also muscular. 
A full grown male, if in good condition, will weigh 28lbs, and 
measure three feet nine inches in length: its general plumage is as 
follows—head and neck, bluish grey; back and tail coverts, buff 
orange, barred and spotted with black; upper part of the breast 
reddish orange; all the under parts white: the adult male is also 
furnished with long wiry feathers, depending laterally from the 
chin, and moustaches of the same; the female, which is only about 
one third in size as compared with the other sex, has no lateral 
chin feathers or moustaches, and her head and neck are of a deeper 
grey, but in other respects her plumage is similar to that of the male. 
Of large and bulky form, but with powerful wings as well as legs, 
it is enabled to fly as well as to run with considerable speed and 
endurance; it never perches at all; it is of a roving disposition, and 
loves vast open plains, amidst the long coarse grass of which, 
and the fields of corn, and thick gorse, it delights to dwell, and it 
will also frequent marshy ground, where such tracts are to be found 
near its favorite haunts. Its food consists chiefly of herbage and 
grain, such as rye and barley, stalks as well as ears; and insects 
such as beetles; but reptiles and the smaller mammalia are said to 
be devoured by this omnivorous bird. It is polygamous, and the 
males separate from the females at the period of incubation, leaving 
them to lay their two eggs on the bare ground, and rear their 
young alone; but they all unite in flocks as autumn approaches, 
and during deep and continued snows are sometimes driven from 
their open plains to more sheltered and enclosed districts ; they are 
exceedingly bold and pugnacious, sometimes attacking those who 
come near them with most determined ferocity; they are at the 
same time very wild and difficult to approach, so that sportsmen 
were accustomed to mask their advance, as they do at this day in 
Spain, by means of a stalking horse. When in repose, bustards usually 
rest with one leg drawn up, and with head reclining backwards 
on the neck; when seen at a distance, Gilbert White said they 
resembled “fallow deer,” a fact corroborated by Mr. Wolley, who 
