Il6 THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



is starved out and exhausted, and, finding all power of 

 escape impossible, it endeavours to hide itself from the 

 enemies it cannot avoid, running into some thicket or 

 burying its head in the sand. The hunters then rush in 

 at full speed, heading as much as possible against the 

 wind, and kill the bird with clubs, lest the feathers should 

 be soiled with blood. 



Everybody must at some time or other have seen a par- 

 tridge run, and consequently must know that no man is 

 able to keep up with it, and it is easy to imagine that if 

 this bird had a longer step its speed would be considerably 

 augmented. The ostrich moves like the partridge, with 

 both these advantages, and there are instances of these 

 birds having put on such a speed as to distance the fleetest 

 racehorse ever bred in England. It is true they would not 

 hold out as long as a horse, but without doubt they would 

 be able to perform the race in less time. Had we but the 

 knowledge and method of breaking it and managing this 

 bird as we do the horse, there is no knowing what speed 

 might be attained by a bird with such prodigious 

 strength. 



A British bird, the Bustard (Otis tarda), now rarely 

 seen, if not quite extinct, is very similar to the ostrich in 

 its faculty of running, being so fleet as to be hunted with 

 greyhounds, a sport followed even by the ancient Greeks, 

 as we learn from Xenophon and ^Elian. The male of 

 this species is furnished with a singular bag or pouch, 

 opening under the tongue, and hanging down on the fore- 

 part of the gullet, as low as the middle of the neck. This 

 seems to have been observed by Aristotle, but was par- 

 ticularly described by Dr. Douglas, who imagined it was 

 intended as a reservoir for water, indispensable in the 

 extensive arid plains which it inhabits. He found it 

 capacious enough to hold several quarts of water. 



Another writer of that period, Colonel Montagu, how- 

 ever, appears to be somewhat sceptical upon this point. 

 "We think it impossible," he says, "that the bird could 



