346 Birds. 



is a good deal smaller than the male, or about three feet 

 in length ; she is also distinguished from her partner by 

 the want of the tufts on the chin, although in some cases 

 these exist in the female, but shorter than in the male. 



The Bustard feeds on green vegetables and insects, 

 and are also said to kill and eat small quadrupeds and 

 reptiles. They are polygamous, and when the female 

 has laid her two or three eggs in a slight depression of 

 the ground, and commenced the business of inciibation, 

 the male most ungallantly deserts her, and retires to 

 take his ease in some neighbouring marsh. It was 

 formerly supposed that the male Bustard paid so much 

 attention to his mates as to provide them with water, 

 which he was said to bring to them in a large pouch, 

 capable of holding nearly a gallon, situated under his 

 throat. It is true that the female is without this ap- 

 pendage; but modern naturalists all agree in stating 

 that the male bird is never seen in company with the 

 female after she has begun to sit. The use of this pouch 

 is therefore still a subject of controversy. 



The female lays her eggs among clover, or more fre- 

 quently in corn-fields, the nest being merely a hollow 

 scraped in the ground. The eggs are two, or sometimes 

 three, in number, and their colour is a yellowish-brown, 

 inclining to green. 



A peculiarity of the Bustard, noticed by most natur- 

 alists, is the extreme rapidity with which they can run. 

 They skim along the ground, raising the wings over the 

 back in the same manner as the ostrich. It is said that 

 in former times, when the breed was commoner, it was 

 a practice to hunt the young birds, before they had 

 acquired the power of flying, with greyhounds. 



As an article of food the flesh of the Bustard has 

 always been held in great estimation. 



There are several other species peculiar both to Asia 

 and Africa. 



