SIS' AVES— BUSTARD. 



partially concealed by the scattered plumage with which they are provided, 

 the blue tinge of the skin. The general color of the skin is grayish brown 

 above, with a more plentiful intermixture of the grffy, and a consequently 

 lighter tinge beneath. The young are striped longitudinally with brown 

 and gray. Their bill is black, and their legs are remarkably thick and of a 

 dull brown. The great length of the latter and of the neck, and the erect 

 attitude and quiet demeanor of these birds, which sometimes attain as much 

 as seven feet in height, give them altogether a noble and imposing appear- 

 ance. They were formerly coinmon in the neighborhood of Botany Bay, 

 subsisting, like the rest of their tribe, upon vegetable substances, chiefly 

 fruits. They are extremely wild, and run with great swiftness when pur- 

 sued; outstripping, it is said, the fleetness^of the greyhound. Like the 

 kanguroos, they are sometimes hunted by the colonists as articles of food; 

 and their flesh is stated to have much of the flavor of beef. The quantity 

 of provision supplied by one of these birds is by no means inconsiderable." 



THE GREAT BUSTARD^ 



Is the largest land bird that is a native of Europe. It was once much 

 more numerous than it is at present ; but the increased cultivation of the 

 country, and the extreme delicacy of its flesh, have greatly thinned the 

 species; so that the time may come when it may be doubted whether so 

 large a bird was ever bred there. It is probable that, long before this, the 

 bustard would have been extirpated, but for its peculiar manner of feeding. 

 It inhabits only the open and extensive plain, where its food lies in abun- 

 dance, and where every invader may be seen at a distance. 



The weight of this bird varies considerably; some have been found of not 

 more than ten pounds, others have been found of twenty-seven and even 

 thirty. The female is not more than half the size of the male. The 

 bustard is distinguished from the ostrich, the touyou, the cassowary, and the 

 dodo, by its wings, Avhich, although disproportioned to the size of its body, 

 yet serve to elevate it in the air, and enable it to fly, though with some 

 difficulty; they are generally about four feet from the tip of one to the other. 

 The neck is a foot long, and the legs a foot and a half. The head and neck 

 of the male are ash colored ; the back is barred transversely with black, and 

 bright rust color. The greater quill feathers are black, the belly white, and 

 the tail, which consists of twenty feathers, is marked with broad black 

 bars. 



1 Olis tarda, Lin. The genus Otia has the bill straight, conical, compressed ; tip of 

 the upper mandible slightly arched ; nostrils open, oval, appro.ximated, but remote at the 

 base ; legs long, naked above the knee; three toes before, short, united at their base, and 

 bordered by a membrane ; wings of medium length ; third quill feather longest. 



