THE BUSTARD TRIBE 2221 



the other genera) reticulated all around; while the wings are somewhat rounded, 

 with the third quill the longest. 



The male of the great bustard stands between three and four feet in height, 

 and has a total length of forty-five inches, whereas the female measures about nine 

 inches less. The male has a tuft of white bristle-like hairs, passing backward and 

 downward from each side of the chin, and partially covering a narrow patch of bare 

 skin. In the same sex the color of the head is gray; the upper parts are chestnut 

 buff, with black barrings, the primary quills blackish brown, but the rest of the 

 wings white; the breast is marked with bands of chestnut and gray; the abdomen is 

 white, and the tail feathers are reddish, barred with black, and tipped with white. 

 The female, as a rule, lacks the moustache, and the bands on the breast. Like 

 many other members of the family, the adult male has an air pouch opening 

 beneath the tongue, and running some distance down the front of the neck, which 

 is most developed during the breeding season, but at other times probably becomes 

 so contracted as to become almost unnoticeable. Always unknown in Ireland, 

 and having disappeared at an earlier epoch from Scotland, the bustard was proba- 

 bly exterminated as a resident English species in or about the year 1838; and it is 

 now known only as a rare and casual visitor to the southern counties. Eastward 

 its range extends across Central and Southern Europe, through Palestine, Turkes- 

 tan, and Southern Siberia to Manchuria; while it is a winter visitor to China and 

 Japan, and occasionally straggles into Asia Minor, North Persia, and Northwestern 

 India. It also inhabits Northwestern Africa, where it has now become rare; and it 

 is very scarce in France and Greece, while for years it has ceased to exist in Scan- 

 dinavia. 



Haunting the great steppes and plains whether barren or under corn cul- 

 tivation of Europe and Asia, the bustard is a shy and wary bird, associating 

 during the winter in large flocks, but breaking up into pairs in the breeding 

 season, although even then several such pairs may frequent the same neighborhood, 

 and the immature individuals still remain in companies. Its food consists mainly 

 of grain and the young shoots of cereals and other plants, but it will also consume 

 insects, as well as small reptiles and mammals. Drinking appears to be quite un- 

 necessary to these birds and their kin. Generally silent, the female when alarmed 

 gives vent to a kind of hiss, as does her partner; but the male has also a call note 

 which has been compared to the syllable prunt. The breeding season commences 

 in May, toward the latter part of which the two, or occasionally three eggs are laid 

 in a hollow in the ground, which may be situated either in the open plain, or in a 

 corn field, and may or may not have a scanty lining of dry grass. In color, the 

 eggs vary from pale buff to some shade of greenish or brownish olive, speckled with 

 reddish brown or gray. During the breeding season the males, which sometimes 

 desert their consorts, are apt to be very pugnacious, instances having been known 

 where they have actually attacked human beings. Mr. C. A. Nicholson observes 

 that ' ' bustards when flushed generally fly two miles or more, sometimes at least a 

 hundred yards high. They never try to run; one that I had winged making the 

 most awkward attempt possible to get away from me, and, though a young bird, 

 showing much more disposition to fight than to get away by running. They fly 



