BUSTARDS. 453 



relatively short, with a small portion of the tibia bare, and the metatarsus (as in 

 the other genera) reticulated all round ; while the wings are somewhat rounded, 

 with the third quill the longest. 



The male of the great bustard stands between 3 and 4 feet in height, and has 

 a total length of 45 inches, whereas the female measures about 9 inches less. 

 The male has a tuft of white bristle-like hairs, passing backwards and downwards 

 from each side of the chin, and partially covering a narrow patch of bare skin. 

 In the same sex the colour of the head is grey ; the upper-parts are chestnut-buff, 

 with black barrings ; the primary quills blackish brown, but the rest of the wings 

 white; the breast is marked with bands of chestnut and grey; the abdomen is 

 white ; and the tail-feathers are reddish, barred with black, and tipped with white. 

 The female, as a rule, lacks the moustache, and the bands on the breast. Like 

 many other members of the family, the adult male has an air-pouch opening 

 beneath the tongue, and running some distance down the front of the neck, which 

 is most developed during the breeding-season, but at other times probably becomes 

 so contracted as to become almost unnoticeable. Always unknown in Ireland, 

 and having disappeared at an earlier epoch from Scotland, the bustard was 

 probably exterminated as a resident English species in or about the year 1838 ; 

 and it is now known only as a rare and casual visitor to the southern counties. 

 Eastwards its range extends across Central and Southern Europe, through 

 Palestine, Turkestan, and Southern Siberia to Mantchuria ; while it is a winter 

 visitor to China and Japan, and occasionally straggles into Asia Minor, North 

 Persia, and North-Westem India. It also inhabits North- Western Africa, where 

 it has now become rare ; and it is very scarce in France and Greece, while 

 for years it has ceased to exist in Scandinavia. 



Haunting the great steppes and plains — whether barren or under corn 

 cultivation — of Europe and Asia, the bustard is a shy and wary bird, associating 

 during the winter in large flocks, but breaking up into pairs in the breeding- 

 season, although even then several such pairs may frequent the same neighbourhood, 

 and the immature individuals still remain in companies. Its food consists mainly 

 of grain and the young shoots of cereals and other plants, but it will also consume 

 insects, as well as small reptiles and mammals. Drinking appears to be quite 

 unnecessary to these birds and their kin. Generally silent, the female when 

 alarmed gives vent to a kind of hiss, as does her partner ; but the male has also a 

 call-note which has been compared to the syllable 'prunt. The breeding-season 

 commences in May, towards the latter part of which the two, or occasionally three 

 eggs are laid in a hollow in the ground, which may be situated either in the open 

 plain, or in a corn-field, and may or may not have a scanty lining of dry grass. 

 In colour, the eggs vary from pale buff to some shade of greenish or brownish 

 olive, speckled with reddish brown or grey. During the breeding-season the 

 males, which sometimes desert their consorts, are apt to be very pugnacious, 

 instances having been known where they have actually attacked human beings. 

 Mr. C. A. Nicholson observes that "bustards when flushed generally fly two 

 miles or more, sometimes at least a hundred yards high. They never try to run ; 

 one that I had winged making the most awkward attempt possible to get away 

 from me, and, though a young bird, showing much more disposition to fight than 



