LITTLE BUSTARD. 67 



posed to disappear at the end of summer, and to be resumed 

 again in the pairing season. The bird is about one-third of 

 the length of the great bustard, with the wings rather 

 shorter in proportion ; but it is a thicker bird, and instead 

 of being one twenty-seventh of the great one, which one 

 third of the length would give in similar birds, it is about 

 one-twentieth ; the weight is about a pound and a half. The 

 haunts and habits resemble those of the former. When a 

 straggler does make its appearance in Britain, it is always 

 near the coast ; but it is one of those birds, in quest of 

 which it would be vain to set out. 



As the bustards feed readily, and are very miscellaneous 

 in their feeding, they can be made to live in a state of 

 domestication, at least for some time ; but it does not appear 

 that they have ever bred in confinement, so that their do- 

 mestication as races is more to be desired than expected. 



