92 GAME BIRDS. 



definite nest, but deposits them on the ground, in a small depres- 

 sion made to receive them. They exceed in size those of the 

 turkey, are of a pale, brownish olive, with darker blotches. If 

 the eggs should be handled, or even breathed upon, she imme- 

 diately abandons them. Incubation lasts four weeks, and the 

 young, as soon as excluded, follow their parents, but are unable 

 to take wing for a considerable period. 



Bustards were formerly more common in England than at 

 present; they are now found only in the open counties of the 

 south and east, in the plains of Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and in the 

 open plains of Yorkshire. They were formerly met with in 

 Scotland, but are now supposed to be extinct there. They are 

 slow in taking wing, but run with great rapidity, and, when 

 young, are sometimes taken with greyhounds. Their chase is 

 said to afford excellent diversion. The bustard is graniverous, 

 but feeds chiefly on herbs. It is also fond of those worms which 

 are seen to come out of the ground, in great numbers, before sun- 

 rise in the summer ; in the winter, it frequently feeds on the bark 

 of trees. Like the ostrich, it swallows stones, bits of metal, and 

 the like. 



Bustards are found in various parts of Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa, but have not hitherto been discovered on the new Con- 

 tinent. In Spain, and in the plains of Greece, in some parts of 

 Russia, and on the wilds of Tartary, also in Germany, it is com- 

 mon. It is occasionally seen in some parts of France ; very rarely 

 in Italy. 



Bustard shooting commences the first of September, and con- 

 cludes on the first of March. The mere possession of these birds 

 at any other period of the year (except such as may be kept 

 tame), subjects the party (13 Geo. III., c. 55) to a penalty of not 

 more than 20, nor less than 10, for the first offence, and for 

 every subsequent offence, to not more than 30, nor less than 

 20, half to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of 

 the parish ; and in case where neither penalty nor distress 

 can be had, to imprisonment, of not less than three, nor more 

 than six months. 



THE LESSKR BUSTARD, being so rarely shot in England, can 

 scarcely come under the head of British game birds. I shall, 

 therefore, only remark, that it much resembles the Great Bustard, 

 described above, but is not quite so large as the common pheasant. 



A fine specimen of this rare bird, the Little Bustard, has been 

 lately shot on the commons of the Long-hill, adjoining the Powers- 

 court estates, in the County Wicklow, about 2,000 feet above the 



