174 NATURAL HISTORY. 
nent and Australia. As these birds have the stout legs 
of an Ostrich, and are fast runners, preferring running to 
flying, some naturalists place them among the Cursores 5 
but as they have wings of considerable size, and can fly 
readily and far, they obviously do not belong in that or- 
der. They have some alliance to the Pheasants (§ 276), 
for they live in part on grain, deposit their eggs in the 
ground without any proper nest, and do not live in pairs. 
The Great Bustard, Fig. 139, is the largest of all the Ku- 
ropean birds. The 
full-grown male is 
four feet long, and 
weighs from thirty 
to forty pounds. 
Though once com- 
mon in England, it 
is now rarely seen 
there; but it is still 
* common in Spain, 
- Greece, in some parts 
of Russia, and in the 
wilds of Tartary. 
: 284. The Plover 
~ family are.also good 
s-. runners. They be- 
long mostly to the 
temperate climates 
of the Old World. They are found chiefly in sandy, un- 
sheltered shores and moors. Their wings are large, and 
in their flight they wheel round in circles, much like the 
Swifts and the Pigeons. The Oyster-catcher, extensively 
distributed in the Old World, is also one of the Plovers 
of this country. It lives on Oysters and other bivalves, 
having a wedge-shaped bill peculiarly fitted to open them. 
The Lapwing, Fig. 140 (p. 175), one of the European Plov- 
ers, is a beautiful bird. It has a crest of long black 
feathers extending backward, and this, with the black 
AS ial 
Fig. 139.—Great Bustard. 
