LITTLE BUSTARD. 201 



LITTLE BUSTARD. 



Otis tetrax. 



The Little Bustard is a very rare straggler into Sussex^ 

 tliougli in many parts of the Continent it is not uncommon^ 

 particularly in tlie South of France and in Spain_, and at 

 least seventy specimens have occurred in England. 



It feeds on vegetable matter^ field-mice and frogs, as well 

 as on worms and slugs. It runs with great rapidity. I saw 

 one, near Nimes, whose pace was as fast as that of a rabbit 

 when first started, and it kept it up across a large piece of 

 ploughed land till out of sight. The note, in the breeding- 

 season, resembles the syllables " prut, prut.'^ This bird is 

 not polygamous, and places its nest on the ground among 

 high herbage. 



The Little Bustard has been very rarely seen in Sussex, 

 and does not appear in Markwick's Catalogue. Mr. Dennis, 

 in a letter to me, dated December 9th, 1854, says, speaking 

 of a Little Bustard : — " It was shot at Cuckmere in October 

 1846, by a Coastguardsman of the name of Bull, and sold by 

 him to Mr. King, of East Blatchington, for half-a-crown. The 

 purchaser, I fancy, was doubtful of it as an edible, and gave 

 it to a painter of the name of Stent, by whom it was pre- 

 served.''' In March 1854 Mr. Dennis showed me the legs and 

 feet of this bird, which were all that then remained, the rest 

 of the specimen having been destroyed by moth. Mr. Knox 

 (O. R. p. 222) says : — " I have lately seen a specimen of the 

 Little Bustard, a female, which was shot at Bosham, near 

 Chichester, a few years ago, by Mr. Alfred Cheesman ; " and 

 mentions that Mr. Jenyns, in his 'Manual of Brit. Vert. 

 An.,' states that it has occurred in Sussex, but gives no date. 



