100 A HISTORY OF 



and warn the flock of the smallest appearance of danger. All, there- 

 fore, that is left the sportsman, is the comfortless view of their distant 

 security. He may wish, but they are in safety. 



It sometimes happens that these birds, though they are seldom shot 

 by the gun, are often run down by grey-hounds. As they are vora- 

 cious and greedy, they often sacrifice their safety to their appetite, 

 arid feed themselves so very fat that they are unable to fly without 

 great preparation. When the grey-hound, therefore, comes within 

 a certain distance, the bustard runs off flapping its wings, and endea- 

 vouring to gather air enough under them to rise : in the mean time the 

 enemy approaches nearer and nearer, till it is too late for the bird even 

 to think of obtaining safety by flight ; for just at the rise there is al- 

 ways time lost, and of this the bird is sensible ; it continues, there 

 fore, on the foot until it has got a sufficient way before the dog for 

 flight, or until it is taken. 



As there are few places where they can at once find proper food 

 and security, so they generally continue near their old haunts, seldom 

 wandering above twenty or thirty miles from home. As their food is 

 replete with moisture, it enables them to live upon these dry plains, 

 where there are scarcely any springs of water, a long time without 

 drinking. Besides this, Nature has given the males an admirable 

 magazine for their security against thirst. This is a pouch, the en- 

 trance of which lies immediately under the tongue, and capable of 

 holding near seven quarts of water. This is probably filled upon pro- 

 oer occasions, to supply the hen when sitting, or the young before they 

 can fly 



Like all other birds of the poultry kind, they change their mates al 

 the season of incubation, which is about the latter end of summer 

 They separate in pairs if there be a sufficiency of females for the 

 males ; but when this happens to be otherwise, the males fight until 

 one of them falls. In France, they often find some of those victims/ 

 to gallantry dead in the fields, and no doubt are not displeased at the 

 occasion. 



They make their nests upon the ground, only just scraping a hole 

 in the earth, and sometimes lining it with a little long grass or straw. 

 There they lay two eggs only, almost of the size of a goose egg, of a 

 pale olive brown, mamed with spots of a darker colour. They hatch 

 in about five weeks, and the young ones run about as soon as they 

 are out of the shell. 



The bustards assemble in flocks in the month of October, and keep 

 together till April. In winter, as their food becomes more scarce, 

 they support themselves indiscriminately, by feeding on moles, mice, 

 and even little birds, when they can seize them. For want of other 

 food, they are contented to live upon turnip leaves, and such little 

 succulent vegetables In some parti, of Switzerland, they are found 

 frozen in the fields in severe weather ; but when taken tc a warm 

 place, they again recover. They usually live fifteen years, and are 

 incapable of being propagated in a domestic state, as they probably 

 want that food which best agrees with their appetite. 



