BUSTARD. 



6-4'J 



them which is used as an article of diet, and also as 

 u means of giving light. The nuts, when eaten raw, 

 are said to be apt to produce dysentery. The fruit 

 of the Canarhtm oleifoltum is also eaten, and an oil is 

 expressed from it. The bark of this plant, when 

 wounded, yields a resin similar to copal, which is 

 used as a varnish. The substance called Damar, in 

 the East Indies, and employed for caulking ships, is 

 made from this resin, mixed with powdered bark of 

 bamboo and chalk. 



The wood and juice of various species of icica and 

 canarium ;re used for perfuming apartments, and 

 burning in temples. 



BUSTARD (Oils). A very interesting genus of 

 birds, arranged by Cuvier as the first of his Praixi- 

 rostral family of the order of Echassiers, " stilt," or 

 long-legged birds ; for a general account of which 

 see the article BIUD in this work. 



The characters of the genus are these : they have 

 the massive body of the gallinaceous birds, only their 

 legs and necks are much longer in proportion. Like 

 the gallinidue, they have the bill of a mean length, 

 slightly compressed, slightly arched in the culmen of 

 the upper mandible, a little incurvated at the tip and 

 projecting over the under one. They have also short 

 membranes between the toes in the same manner as 

 the gallinidoe. In other respects they, however, differ, 

 and resemble more the other long-legged birds which 

 frequent dry pastures. They have the naked ]. 

 these ; and their whole anatomical structure agrees 

 more with them than with the gallinaceous birds, and 

 even their flesh has the same flavour. Like them 

 also they arc without hind toes, and the smaller species 

 have a very considerable degree of resemblance to 

 the plovers. Their tarsi are reticulated, their wings 

 are short for the size of the birds, and they do not fly 

 much unless when they are alarmed. Their ordinary 

 march is on foot, and when they run swiftly they use 

 their wings partially raised for balancing themselves. 

 They are very miscellaneous in their feeding, cutting 

 indiscriminately, seeds, green vegetables if they are 

 succulent, insects, and worms. 



There are several species, most of them inhabiting 

 countries which arc warm and temperate, and where 

 they can range undisturbed. Though there is a very 

 great difference in the sizes of the species, there is 

 a very remarkable correspondence in their manners, 

 enough to characterise them as a well marked 

 genus, and perhaps even family ; for there are no 

 other birds which resemble them very closely. There 

 is one species still a resident though a very local 

 resident in some parts of England, and there is ano- 

 ther which occasionally makes its appearance as a 

 visitant ; and from some notice of them, a general 

 idea of the manners of the genus may be obtained. 



I. THE GREAT BUSTARD (Otis tarda). The name 

 tarda, or slow, is very incorrectly given to those birds 

 for they are far from slow on foot, and though the} 

 are reluctant to take the wing, they are not bad flier 

 when they have once taken it, neither have they that 

 difficulty in getting on the w ing, which has sometime.' 

 been alleged. That they take long migratory flight; 

 is certain, because we have well authenticated ac- 

 counts of straggling bustards being found at the dis- 

 tance of four or five hundred miles from any place 

 where they are known to be resident, as for instance 

 there was one shot in the lowlands of the county o 

 Moray, in Scotland, in the year 182:3, though it i 

 pretty clearly made out that 'there could not be anj 



esident ones in the island at that time, nearer than 

 he county of Norfolk ; and it is very probable that 

 he straggler found in Moray came not from Norfolk, 

 ut from the continent, and that it must have crossed 

 he German ocean upon one stretch of flight. 



The great bustard is truly a magnificent bird, the 

 argest of all the native birds, not only of the British 

 slands but of Europe. The male bird, when full 

 frown, is at least four feet in length, and not less 

 han nine in the extent of the wings, so that it is 

 really a well-winged bird for its size and weight. Not 

 qual to many of the air birds certainly, but still 

 well-winged as compared with the majority of low- 

 flighted birds, whose natural place of abode is on 

 he level surface of the earth, and which use the wing 

 only when they are raised by terrestrial enemies, or 

 :ompelled to shift their quarters by want of food, or 

 any other cause. 



The bill is of a sort of ashen grey colour ; but the 

 egs, which are covered with reticulated scales, and 

 not feathered down to the tarsal joints have a 

 garter or naked space above, are black. The tarsi 

 is about half a foot in length ; the tibia is also long 

 and comparatively free, and well supplied with mus- 

 cles. There are only three toes, all turned to the 

 front ; and there is an elastic pad on the lower part 

 of the tarsus which answers as a heel, the structure 

 of the toes being well adapted for giving a spring to 

 the foot when raised in walking, and also for receiving 

 the weight of the bird when the foot is planted, with- 

 out any concussion to the body. The march is thus 

 firm and stately, and performed with the alternate 

 foot without any hopping. 



The colours are not gaudy, but the plumage is 

 -warm and rich, and the markings very beautiful, and 

 even elaborate. The head is silver grey, with a very 

 well defined streak of black along the middle. In 

 the male bird, there descends from near the angles of 

 the gape, or rather from the ear coverts, two pendent 

 tufts of black silky feathers, which hang for eight or 

 nine inches down the sides of the neck. These pen- 

 dent tufts of feathers play backwards and forwards 

 on the sides of the neck, as the position of the head 

 is shifted, and alternately display and conceal two 

 patches of naked skin on the sides of the neck which 

 are of a violet colour, more intense in the pairing 

 time of the birds. The lower part of the neck passes 

 into a reddish orange, of a rich but rather subdued tint. 

 The ground colour on the back is nearly the same ; 

 but it passes into greyish on the scapulars ; and there 

 is a greyish tuft of downy feathers at the setting on 

 of the neck. The whole of the orange feathers are 

 very elaborately streaked, barred and mottled with 

 black. The greater coverts of the wings and some 

 of the secondary quills are of a dull black colour ; 

 but the primary quills are brownish black with white 

 shafts. The feathers of the tail have some white at 

 their bases, and generally also at the tips ; but the 

 principal part of them is rich brown with black lines, 

 which form a regular band. The black markings on 

 the feathers are in general regular crescents, with 

 their convexity toward the point of the feather, and 

 a small line of the same colour running parallel to it. 

 On the fore part of the neck, in the male, there is a 

 membranous sac or pouch, having its opening under 

 the tongue, and capable, when distended to its full 

 stretch, of containing at least tw o quarts. This pouch 

 is not covered with feathers, but with a naked elastic 

 skin of a bluish black colour. Thf re have been many 



