THE GREAT BUSTARD. 47 



are greatly elongated and loose, forming an ornamental plume which extends over 

 the lower part of the back, and which can be raised at the will of the bird. The 

 bill is greenish-brown; the face, head, and front of the neck, black. On the 

 top of the head is a warty red skin, covered scantily with hair. The sides of 

 the neck in the upper part are white, the legs blackish- grey. 



Family 



THE GREAT BUSTARD. 



Otis tarda, LINN. 



Great Bustard, so-called to distinguish it from the smaller species, which 

 _1_ also are found in Europe, namely : the Little Bustard, (O. tetrax) ; the 

 lloubara Bustard, (O. undulata) ; and Macqueen's Bustard, (0. macqueenl), was 

 formerly a constant resident not only in England and also in Ireland, but has long 

 been extinct in the latter country. In England it used to breed frequently, but 

 has gradually been exterminated, the last nest having been found early in the 

 present century. It inhabited the broad open downs on the south of England as 

 far north as the wolds of Yorkshire, and occasionally was found still further north. 

 In the early part of this century it had nearly disappeared from Wiltshire, but 

 nests were known in Norfolk and Suffolk as late as 1833, an ^ an egg, now in 

 the Museum at Scarborough, was reported to have been taken in Yorkshire in 

 1816. In former times it was exceedingly common in all the open parts of the 

 country that were suited to its habits; the moors of Yorkshire, the heaths of 

 Cambridgeshire, the downs of the southern counties, were all more or less 

 frequented by k, the bird coming over to this country to breed. As late as 1819, 

 a large flock was observed in Suffolk, and Stevenson says there is reason to 

 believe that the last nest was observed in that county in 1832. In 1833, three 



