THE LESSER DUSTARDS. 121 



Adult Female. Without the varied markings of the male, but 

 scarcely differing in size. Rather lighter and more coarsely 

 mottled with black than the male ; the hind-neck and mantle, 

 as. well as parts of the scapulars and back, spangled with ovate 

 drops of sandy-buff, most of these drops having a twin-spot of 

 black in the centre ; sides of face sandy-rufous, streaked with 

 black ; throat white ; lower throat, fore-neck, and upper breast 

 sandy-buff, the former streaked with black, and the fore-neck 

 and chest with circular bars and spots of black ; remainder of 

 under surface pure white, as also the under wing-coverts ; the 

 lower primary-coverts with cross-bars of black ; wings as in the 

 male, but the exterior coverts and the greater series barred 

 with black. Total length, 17 inches; culmen, n ; wing, 97 ; 

 tail, 4-0 ; tarsus, 2-4. 



Young Birds. These can generally be distinguished from the 

 adult female by the greater amount of barring on the chest, by 

 tlu more profuse barring of the white upper tail-coverts, and 

 by the sandy frecklings of the primary-coverts ; iris brownish- 

 yellow. 



Range in Great Britain. Although a few instances of the oc- 

 currence of the Little Bustard in full breeding- dress have been 

 recorded from our islands, the greater number of specimens 

 have been captured in autumn and winter, chiefly in the 

 southern and eastern counties. Four have been recorded 

 from Scotland and two from Ireland. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Little Bustard is a mi- 

 gratory bird in most parts of Europe, and breeds only in the 

 open country suited to its habits. Thus it is plentiful in 

 certain parts of France, Spain, and Russia, but it does not go 

 very far north, though known as a straggler to Scandinavia, the 

 Baltic Provinces, and the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. 

 Eastward it ranges to Turkestan, whence it visits North-western 

 India in the cold season, at which time it is also found in 

 North-eastern Africa. 



Habits. As a rule, the present species is a very shy bird 

 and one difficult to procure, though it is often seen in flocks of 

 a hundred or more at certain seasons. Colonel Irby writes : 

 " I found the Little Bustard equally common in Marocco and 

 Andalucia on all open, low, cultivated ground. On the dead 



