174 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



nent and Australia. As these birds have the stout legs 

 of an Ostrich, and are fast runners, preferring running to 

 flying, some naturalists place them among the Cursores ; 

 but as they have wings of considerable size, and can fly 

 readily and far, they obviously do not belong in that or- 

 der. They have some alliance to the Pheasants ( 276), 

 for they live in part on grain, deposit their eggs in the 

 ground without any proper nest, and do not live in pairs. 

 The Great Bustard, Fig. 139, is the largest of all the Eu 



ropean birds. The 

 full - grown male is 

 four feet long, and 

 weighs from thirty 

 to forty pounds. 

 Though once com- 

 mon in England, it 

 is now rarely seen 

 there ; but it is still 

 i common in Spain, 

 i Greece, in some parts 

 of Russia, and in the 

 w r ilds of Tartary. 

 |1 284. The Plover 

 family are also good 

 runners. They be- 

 long mostly to the 

 temperate climates 



of the Old World. They are found chiefly in sandy, un- 

 sheltered shores and moors. Their wings are large, and 

 in their flight they wheel round in circles, much like the 

 Swifts and the Pigeons. The Oyster-catcher, extensively 

 distributed in the Old World, is also one of the Plovers 

 of this country. It lives on Oysters and other bivalves, 

 having a wedge-shaped bill peculiarly fitted to open them. 

 The Lapwing, Fig. 140 (p. 1 75), one of the European Plov- 

 ers, is a beautiful bird. It has a crest of long black 

 feathers extending backward, and this, with the black 



