THE BUSTARD. 7 



or thirteen pounds. The neck a foot long, the legs 

 a foot and a half. It flies with some little diffi- 

 culty. The head and neck of the cock ash co- 

 loured ; the back barred transversely with black and 

 a bright rust colour. The greater quill feathers 

 black, the belly white ; the tail consisting of twenty 

 feathers, marked with broad black bars ; it has 

 three thick toes before and none behind. There 

 are upwards of half a , dozen species of this bird, 

 two or three of which (African) are crested. The 

 LITTLE Bustard differs only in size, not being larger 

 than a pheasant. They were known to the ancients 

 in Africa, and in Greece and Syria ; are supposed to 

 live about fifteen years ; are gregarious, and pair in 

 spring, laying only two eggs, nearly of the size of a 

 goose-egg, of a pale olive brown, marked with spots 

 of a darker hue. They sit about five weeks, and the 

 young ones run, like partridges, as soon as delivered 

 from the shell. The cocks will fight until one is 

 killed or falls ; and I suppose they are fed upon the 

 same food as the turkey. 



There were formerly great flocks of bustards in 

 this country, upon the wastes and in the woods, 

 particularly in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Dorset, 

 and in various parts of Scotland, where they were, 

 hunted with greyhounds, and very easily taken. 

 There is no present information of any bred in this 

 country. The last specimen of the Great Bustard, 

 recorded to have been killed in England, was shot in 

 Cambridgeshire, in 1831, and passed into the private 

 collection of a gentleman belonging to one of the col- 

 leges at Cambridge. Buffon, however, was mistaken 

 B 4 



