and other India^i Bustards, 



Wt 



on horseback by our sporting countrymen, and fired at with 

 pistols. I never saw their egs or nest. 



The bustard makes an excellent dish at table, particularly 

 a young hen ; the flesh of the breast is full of triangular cavi- 

 ties. I add a sketch {Jig, 125.) of the bill, of the natural size. 



I shall venture a few remarks on the account of the bustard 

 in the above-mentioned 21 st part of Griffith's Animal Kingdom. 



M. Cuvier's observation (p. 301.) that "they fly but little, 

 using their wings more commonly, like the ostrich, to assist 

 them in running,'' may be true enough of the European spe- 

 cies, but is surely incorrect when generically applied. In the 

 same page, after we are told that " the wings are short," the 

 male O'tis tarda is said to have " the wing-feathers elongated, 

 forming on each side a sort of mustachios." Surely cheek- 

 feathers must be meant. 



The Small Bustard of India so much prized at table, called 

 churj in the Hindoostanee language, and florican by the Eng- 

 lish, is of a light ochreous colour, beautifully varied and marked 

 above with brown and black, the down at the base of the fea- 

 thers being of a pink colour; length from bill to tail, 1 8 in. ; 

 to claws, 22f in., but varies much in size. The " Indian bus- 

 tard (Otis bengalensis) " (p. 303.), is not the churj or "charge," 

 at least, of Southern India ; but, from the indistinct descrip- 

 tion, appears to be a Passurage bustard (O'tis aurita), without 

 the " bristles." 



" Passurage Bustard (O'tis aurita). " (p. 304.) This is the 

 Hindoostanee leeJc^ called by the English black florican ,- of 



