BTJSTABD SHOOTING. 101 



[great jealousy, and it is said, if any one handles tliem in her 

 absence she immediately abandons them. 



Eustards feed on corn and vegetables of various kinds — they 

 likewise devour great quantities of earthworms. Like the ostrich, 

 they even swallow small pebbles, and bits of metal. Buffon relates 

 a somev'hat strange story of one that was opened before the lloyal 

 Academicians of France, in the stomach of which there were ninetij 

 doMoons, all worn and polished by the attrition of the coats of the 

 stomach. 



Shooting the bustard was once a very favourite sport with the 

 gentlemen of England. All kinds of contrivances used to be em- 

 ployed to gain upon the vv^ary bird; carts and coaches, in which 

 gmmers were concealed, was a favourite dodge, and Markham tells 

 us, that in his time, nearly two centuries and a half ago, the stalk- 

 ing horse was the sm-est mode of capture. It was a great achieve- 

 ment to get a shot at the bird, and a still greater, to kill him ; it 

 was not an uncomrnon thing for even greyhounds to course for 

 bustards — as they display always a great reluctance to take wing, 

 they were often successfully overtaken by the dogs, and secured. 



The Little Bustard {OtisTetrax, Liim.) — This is a very small spe- 

 cies of the bustard, only being sixteen inches in length, and tliirty- 

 five in breadth, with outstretched wings ; its weight is about twenty- 

 five ounces. Bewick says, "It is very uncommon in tliis country; 

 ;We have only seen two, both of them females. It is, however, com- 

 mon in France, where it is taken in nets, likethe partridge ; but it 

 is not an easy prey, being a very shy and cunning bird ; if disturbed, 

 it flies two or three hundred paces, not far from the ground, and 

 then runs away much faster than any one can follow on foot. The 

 female lays in June, to the number of three or four eggs, of a glossy 

 ^reen, and, as soon as the young are hatched she leads them about 

 a,s the hen does her chickens, and they are able to fly about the 

 ooiddle of August." 



The great bustard, half a century ago, was often met with in tiie 

 southern and south-eastern counties of England, and was occasion- 

 ally found upon the wolds of Yorkshire. About thirty years ago 

 two fine male birds were shot in Northumberland, which weighed 

 about twenty -five pounds each. SaHsbury Plain has long been 

 noted for them, but we believe, at the present hour, they are but 

 Seldom seen, even in this favourite locality. In Scotland they have 

 aot been met with for many years. There have a few stray birds 

 been taken in the high grounds in Wales, within the last ten years, 

 [t is very common hi Russia, Germany, and Tartary. 



