LITTLE BUSTARD. 249 



from the cold of the winter. He killed mice and sparrows with 

 his bill by pinching their heads, and then swallowed them whole, 

 even when of considerable size. It was easy to observe a large 

 mouse going down his throat, making a moving tumour till it came 

 to the turn of the neck; it then moved backwards, and although 

 out of sight, yet its progress was traced by the feathers between 

 the shoulders separating and closing again as soon as it passed into 

 the gizzard. It was fond of worms, and while the gardener was 

 digging, stood by him and looked out for them. It ate the buds 

 of flowers, and particularly of roses, also the substance of cucumbers, 

 but not the outside." 



The Rev. A. C. Smith, in a highly interesting paper on the 

 "Birds of Portugal/' published in the Ibis for October, 1868, vol. 

 iv., No. 16, N.S., thus speaks of the Great Bustard: "Wild boar 

 and Great Bustards are the lordly species of game, ground and 

 feathered, after which the more ambitious Portuguese sportsmen 

 hunt, and both are found of goodly size and in tolerable abundance 

 in certain districts, more especially in the southern provinces of 

 Alemtejo and Algarve. I was fortunate in procuring a magnificent 

 male bird in the flesh, which was most liberally given me by an 

 English friend, and whose body, after I had taken off the skin, for 

 several days formed a large item in the bill of fare of the Hotel 

 Braganza at Lisbon, the guests of every degree at the table d'hote, 

 and in private apartments, partaking of the dish, from the British 

 Minister and his family on the first floor to the cook-boys in the 

 area. The bird weighed 30J pounds, and is the finest example of 

 0. tarda I have ever seen." 



THE LITTLE BUSTAKD. 



OTIS TETRAX. 



THERE is a specimen of this bird in the Montrose Museum, which 

 was shot near that town in December, 1833. In April, 1868, I 

 had an opportunity of examining this specimen, which is still in 

 good preservation. Another was shot, near St. Andrews on 6th 

 March, 1840, and is now preserved in the Literary and Philosophi- 

 cal Society's Museum there.* A third a female was obtained 



* Captain Feilden informs me that this bird was shot by Dr Adamson of St. 

 Andrews. 



