436 STRUTHIONID^J. 



attending the females till the latter begin their task of incu- 

 bation . The female lays two or three eggs in a depression 

 on the bare ground. The eggs are olive-brown in colour, 

 sparingly and indistinctly blotched with greenish broccoli- 

 brown : length two inches eleven lines, by two inches two 

 lines in breadth. The birds feed on green corn, grasses, 

 trefoil, and other vegetables ; are said to kill and eat small 

 mammalia, and, from their partiality to marshy ground, I 

 have no doubt they also devour small reptiles. In the 

 summer they conceal themselves in standing corn, gene- 

 rally wheat or rye, and later in the season in large fields of 

 high turnips ; they also frequent chalk pits when they are 

 partly overgrown with bushes or rank vegetation. As an 

 article of food, the flesh of the Bustard is highly esteemed, 

 and Mr. Gould says that on the Continent the bird is fre- 

 quently to be seen exposed in the markets for sale. About 

 the year 1817 or 1818, I remember to have seen a pair of 

 Great Bustards, male and female, and very fine specimens, 

 exposed for sale by Mr. Townsend, the poulterer, in 

 Charles Street, St. James's Square. These birds were sold 

 for twelve guineas, and were preserved by Mr. Leadbeater 

 for the purchaser. These were the only examples of the 

 Great Bustard I remember to have seen exposed for sale 

 in the meat. Mr. Townsend bought both the birds in 

 Leadenhall Market, and both of them exhibited marks of 

 having been trapped and caught by the legs. 



Some kind friends having supplied me with various 

 particulars relating to the habits of the Great Bustard 

 (Otis tar da of Linneus), with liberty to use them, I have 

 here inserted portions of them, in the belief that they 

 might be found interesting ; the great scarcity, or rather 

 the now rare occurrence of the bird in this country, 

 affording but few opportunities for observation. 



The first communication came from C. A. Nicholson, 



