180 GREAT BUSTARD. 



32. BUSTARD TRIBE. 



Bustards are natives only of the old continent. Several 

 of the species are of large size. They feed on insects, 

 reptiles, grain, and vegetables. 



Great Bustard. If we except some of the species of 

 eagles, there is no wild bird in our islands of size at all 

 comparable with that of the Bustards. Their usual 

 weight is from twenty to twenty-seven pounds. They 

 are now nearly all destroyed ; but, in former years, 

 they were by no means uncommon on Salisbury Plain, 

 and some of the other open downs of the south of 

 England. In such situations it was almost impossible 

 for any person to approach them undiscovered ; and they 

 were so shy and timid, as generally to keep at a great 

 distance from the observer. They run with surprising 

 swiftness, and seldom attempt to fly. When fat, they are 

 sometimes hunted and killed by means of greyhounds. 

 They subsist upon the berries of the wild briar and bram- 

 ble, and on seeds, insects, worms, and reptiles. They 

 form no nest, but merely scrape a hole in the ground, and 

 deposit there two eggs, about the size of those of a goose. 

 These are of a pale olive-brown, marked with spots of 

 deeper colour. Bustards are said to live about fifteen 

 years. 



The length of this bird is nearly four feet. The head 

 and neck are ash-coloured ; and the back is transversely 

 barred with black and bright rust-colour. The belly is 

 white. On each side of the bill of the male there is, at 

 the base, a tuft of feathers. 



