372 BRITISH BIRDS. 



(from which our figure was taken) differs from this 

 description, is smaller, and has not the black col- 

 lar; in other respects she nearly resembles the 

 male. 



This bird is very uncommon in this country; and 

 we have seen only two, both of them females. The 

 figure was drawn from one sent by W. Trevelyan, 

 Esq., which was taken on the edge of Newmarket 

 Heath, and kept alive about three weeks in the 

 kitchen, where it was fed with bread and other 

 things, such as poultry eat. It is common in 

 France, where it is taken in nets like the Partridge. 

 It is a very shy and cunning bird; if disturbed, it 

 flies two or three hundred paces, not far from the 

 ground, and then runs away much faster than any 

 one can follow on foot. The female lays in June, 

 to the number of three or four eggs, of a glossy 

 green : as soon as the young are hatched, she leads 

 them about as the Hen does her chickens; they 

 begin to fly about the middle of August. 



Both this and the Great Bustard are excellent 

 eating, and would well repay the trouble of domes- 

 tication; indeed, it seems surprising, that we 

 should suffer these fine birds to be in danger of 

 total extinction, although, if properly cultivated, 

 they might afford as excellent a repast as our own 

 domestic poultry, or even as the Turkey, for which 

 we are indebted to distant countries. 



