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, pl. 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 elongated 
—whence doubtless is derived the name Otis (Gr. é7is)—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 offers, 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 
