OTIS TETRAX. 257 



about thirty pounds weight. I could not have believed so large 

 a bird could crouch so low and at the same time make such 

 good running. 



About Casas Viejas a few Bustards are to be found near the 

 banks of the rivers Barbate and Celemin, where, from the nature 

 of the ground, which is intersected by the windings and branches 

 of these rivers, which are nearly dry in August, it is sometimes 

 possible to stalk them under cover of the banks, and is very 

 good ground to have them driven over ; but the Spaniards then 

 could not be made to understand such work. 



The Great Bustard nests in corn or grass early in May, laying 

 two olive-brown eggs marked with spots and blotches of dark 

 brown. Verner says he has twice come across nests containing 

 four eggs, but the Spaniards say two is the complement laid by 

 each hen, and if more than that number are found in a nest then 

 two hens have laid together. He found a nest as late as the 

 27th of June, 1879, containing three fresh eggs. They appear to 

 be polygamous, whilst the Little Bustard undoubtedly pairs. 

 The gular pouch, which always exists in the old males or 

 Barbones, is sometimes very large and necked in the middle, 

 somewhat like an hour-glass, the lower part being the largest ; 

 this shape is not constant and perhaps the result of age. 



3 [ale. Head bluish grey ; general colour above reddish buff, with black 

 bands on each feather ; wings white or greyish, except the dark primaries ; 

 tuft of long bristly white feathers from base of bill ; band of rich chestnut 

 across breast, with grey band underneath, below this white. 



Female and young male. Without bristles on throat or band on chest, and 

 back more banded with black. Length: male 45 inches, female 36. Greatest 

 weight of a male 37 Ib. (Verner}, others have recorded to 36 Ib. 



280. Otis tetrax, Linnceus. The Little Bustard. 



Moorish . Bou-zerat (Father of the armourer : Ead, " thim- 

 derer "), Saf-saf ; Sirt, sirt (from call or note). Andalucian. Sison, 

 Francolino. 



" The Little Bustard is abundant in the vicinity of Tangier in 



