100 SHOOTING. 



This sport is undoubtedly a very exciting one, but it must be pui-- 

 chased at a certain cost of bodily labour, privation, and uncoiu- 

 fortableness. 



IHAPTER XI. 



BUSTAED SHOOTING. 



The Gkeateu BustaUD [Otis Tarda, Linn.) is one of the rarest, and 

 largest of British game bnds. It is about four feet long, and from 

 twenty-five to thirty pounds weight ; its bill is strong, and rather 

 convex, its eyes are red, and head and neck ash-coloured ; on each 

 side of the lower biU is a tuft of feathers, from five to nine inches 

 long, the back of which is barred transversely with black and rust 

 colour ; the large quill feathers are brown, and the belly white. 

 There are twenty feathers in the tail, the middle ones are of a rust 

 colour, barred with deep black, and those on each side are white ; 

 the legs are long and naked beyond the knees, and are of a dusky 

 colour. The bird has no hind toe, its nails are short, strong, ana 

 of considerable convexity, both above and below, and the bottom of 

 the foot is furnished with a caUqus prominence, which serves thft 

 purpose of a heel. The female bird is smaUer in size than the male. 

 The crown of the head of the former is of a deep orange, crossed) 

 mth transverse black lines ; the rest of the head is brown. The' 

 lower part of the foreside of the neck is ash-coloured, and she isi 

 destitute of the tuft on each side of the head ; in other respects her 

 plumage resembles that of the male, with the exception that the 

 colours of the back and_ wings are less vivid and glossy. The male 

 has an appendage peculiar to himself, being a kind oipotich, capable 

 of containing nearly seven pints of water, the entrance to which 

 is immediately under the tongue. It is_ supposed that the bird 

 fills this with water, to supply its wants in those dry and thirstj 

 plains which it inhabits. Some naturalists say, that the male fur- 

 nishes the female with a portion of the liquid, when slie is sitting 

 on her eggs. Erom the accomits of travellers, it would appear that 

 the male bustard apphes the water to a _ singular use in Morocco, 

 where the hawk is employed to capture it ; when it is attacked by 

 its enemy, it squirts the water out of its pouch against its assailant, 

 and by this device often bafiles its pursuer. The female bustard 

 makes no kind of nest, but simply scratches a hole in some dry 

 field, drops two eggs upon the ground, as large as those of a goose,^ 

 and of a pale olive brown, sprinkled irregularly with a number or 

 small dark spots, resembling the bro^vn colour of the plumage ; she 

 sits upon these eggs thirty days, she seems to watch them with 



ra. 



