164 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



"They are often shot, bags of ten or a dozen couple having been 

 reported; but it is chiefly as a quarry for falcons that they are 

 esteemed, and in the neighbourhood of Mardan, hawking with the 

 Saker or Cherrug falcon used to be a standing amusement. 



" They are broad-breasted, compact, strong birds, but withal easily 

 killed, though perhaps less so than the Florican." 



The food of the Little Bustard is as varied as that of its big 

 cousin, and though it lives principally on grain and green food it 

 will devour anything in the insect line, and also slugs, snails, worms, 

 and even small lizards, frogs, &c. 



As an article for the table, opinions differ greatly, but whilst 

 many consider it a delicacy, few condemn it altogether, and it 

 certainly ranks as food not to be despised when once it has been 

 shot. Messrs. Chapman and Buck declare, of its Spanish cousin, 

 " its flesh to be both delicate and delicious." 



