158 BUFFED SU8TABD. 



■who frequently impale themselves on the horns of their prey. It is 

 not uncommon for both pursuer and victim to fall dead at one 

 mutual stroke." 



The RuiFed Bustard, like the rest of the family, is a shy bird, 

 frequenting the wild desert, and rarely coming near a human 

 dwelling, or where it is likely to meet with an enemy. In the 

 spring the males have grand battles with each other for the possession 

 of the females, asserting and maintaining their right to have a 

 plurality of wives, in which combats the older birds are generally 

 victorious. 



The females scrape a hole in the sand, in which, says Canon Tristram, 

 they lay three, sometimes only two, eggs. They will desert the nest 

 if it is disturbed during incubation. Degland and some other writers 

 give five as the maximum number of eggs. The young when born 

 are covered with down, and immediately, like other gallinaceous birds, 

 follow their mother in search of food. 



The Bustard is both granivorous and insectivorous. According to 

 some authors they will feed also upon frogs, toads, and lizards; 

 and M. Jules Verreaux informs us that in Africa he has often seen 

 them kill and eat snakes. In the combat they principally make use 

 of their wings, killing their prey by violent blows. 



The male has the top of the head white, the feathers being 

 prolonged into a crest, which is bordered on each side by elongated 

 feathers of a russet brown, spotted with black. Sides of the head, 

 throat, and upper part of the neck, and nape, grey, the last being 

 partly hidden by the elongated feathers of the crest. From the back 

 of the neck extends on each side long stiff feathers, above black, 

 below white, forming a ruff. The rest of the upper parts, namely, 

 scapularies, back, upper wing and tail coverts, and upper tail feathers, 

 russet brown, barred and crossed with darker brown; the tints 

 varying from light brown on the back to greyish brown on the 

 shoulders and lower part of the wing coverts, and to dark russet on 

 the upper tail feathers; primaries, the first four white, with about 

 four inches and a half of the distal extremities of the first two, and 

 three inches of the third and fourth black brown; the outer web of 

 the first spotted cream-colour; the rest of the primaries dark brown 

 black, tipped with white; secondaries dark brown black. I^ower part 

 of the neck, abdomen, and under wing coverts, pure white, the 

 shoulders russet and brown; under tail coverts whitish, with dots 

 and zigzags of russet and brown on the distal half. Tail feathers 

 below cream-colour, shaded with russet, and marked with brown 

 spots, and barred with three broad black bands; above they are 



