THE BUSTARD. 335 



Food Where found Utility. 



feed on green corn, the tops of turnips, and va- 

 rious other vegetables, as well as on worms ; but 

 they have been known also to eat frogs, mice, 

 and young birds of the smaller kind, which they 

 swallow whole. In winter they frequently feed 

 on the bark of trees. Buffon says, " in the stor 

 mach of one which was opened by the academi- 

 cians, there were found, besides small stones, to 

 the number of ninety doubloons, all worn and 

 polished by the attrition of the stomach." 



In England they are now and then seen in 

 flocks of fifty or more : they frequent the open 

 countries of the south and east parts, from Dor- 

 setshire as far as the wolds in Yorkshire, and are 

 often met with on Salisbury Plain. 



The flesh of these birds has ever been consi- 

 dered as a great delicacy, and therefore invari- 

 ably the object of pursuit; besides which their 

 quills are held in high estimation among anglers, 

 who use them as floats ; for, as they are spotted 

 with black, the notion is, that these black spots 

 appear as flies to the fish, and therefore rather 

 allure than drive them away. 



In some parts of Switzerland the bustards are 

 found frozen in the fields in severe weather, but 

 when taken to a warm place they again recover. 

 They are supposed to live about fifteen years, but 

 are incapable of being propagated in a domestic 

 state, probably from not having a supply of that 

 peculiar food which may be necessary to their 

 constitution. 



