258 THE FOOD OF BIRDS IN INDIA. 



remains of insects and land shells in their stomachs and in Europe 

 they are said to eat slugs, snails and small reptiles. H. & M. G. 

 B. I, 4. Chiefly vegetable matter. Jerd. B. I. Ill, 625. 



1414. Eupodotis edwardsi. Great Indian Bustard. In long 

 grass for grasshoppers, not for the grass (Roussa) seeds. Bustards 

 change their ground much according to the season, and the supply 

 of grasshoppers and other insects. " Besides grasshoppers, which 

 may be said to be the favourite food, the Bustard will eat any 

 other large insect, more especially Mylabris or blistering beetle, 

 so abundant during the rains : the large Buprestes, Scar abaci, 

 caterpillars, &c., also lizards, centipedes, small snakes, &c. Mr. 

 Elliot found a quail's egg entire in the stomach of one and they 

 will often swallow pebbles or any glittering objects that attracts 

 them. I took several portions of a brass ornament, the size of a 

 No. 16 bullet out of the stomach of one Bustard. In default of 

 insect food, it will eat fruit of various kinds, especially the fruit 

 of the Ber (Zizyphus jujuba] and Caronda (Carissa carandas), 

 grain and other seeds, and vegetable shoots." Jerd. B. I. Ill, 

 609. 



It feeds on insects, especially grasshoppers, on small reptiles 

 on fruit, on grain, shoots of grass, &c. F. I. IV, 196. Jerdon as 

 above quoted. H. & M. G. B. I III, 8-9. 



They are very coarse feeders and in the Punjab, I have found 

 large lizards, desert rats and all kinds of reptiles in their stomachs, 

 besides quantities of the young green shoots of the lemon grass of 

 which they seem very fond. H. & M. G. B. I. Ill, 11. Lives 

 ehiefly on insects. H. & M. G. B. I. Ill, 12. Large grasshopper 

 and locusts. B. N. H. S. J. VI, 11. 



NOTES. In Rajputana (Deo la, &c.), where this bird comes 

 for breeding purposes, it feeds largely on the green blister beetle 

 (Cantharis tenuicollis), which often taints the flesh of this bird. 



1415. Houbara macqueen'. Houbara. " Adams states that 

 it is very destructive to young wheat fields in winter, eating the 

 young shoots, but its chief food is doubtless insects of various 



