586 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Tchernavoda. As the train passed she strutted slowly along as if on tiptoe, 

 with neck upstretched and head turning round, to follow the train, but she 

 never took wing. 



The eggs of the Great Bustard are generally only two in number, but 

 sometimes three are laid. They vary from ohve-green to pale buff and 

 olive-brown in ground-colour, and are spotted and blotched with reddish 

 brown, and with numerous underlying markings of greyish pink. The 

 markings are generally obscurely defined, and somewhat evenly distributed 

 over the entire .surface. On some eggs the blotches are very irregular, and 

 are intermingled with small rich dark brown streaks and scratches. The 

 surface is slightly rough, full of small pores, and possesses a little gloss, 

 but some specimens are much smoother than others. They vary in length 

 from 3'2 to 3"7 inch, and in breadth from 2'4 to 2"15 inch. They differ 

 considerably in shape, some being elongated at both ends, whilst others are 

 nearly round. 



The male Great Bustard is a very handsome bird, as richly marked as a 

 Ptarmigan and as large as a Turkey. The general colour of the upper 

 parts is chestnut-buff, transversely barred with black. The quills and 

 primary-coverts are nearly black, with white bases. The lesser wing-coverts 

 and several of the centre tail-feathers are coloured like the back, but many 

 of the outer tail-feathers are white, with a broad transverse subterminal 

 black band. The larger wing-coverts, the upper neck, and the underparts 

 below the lower neck, which is chestnut-buff, are white. The head and a 

 long moustachial tuft on each side are pale slate-grey. Bill slate-grey, 

 darker at the tip ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides dark hazel. The 

 female is a smaller bird, about half the weight of the male, from which it 

 differs chiefly in having no moustachial plumes and no chestnut on the 

 lower throat. Young in first plumage of both sexes resemble ad.ult females, 

 but have the white wing- coverts broadly barred with black, and three 

 instead of one black band across all the outer tail-feathers ; the white both 

 of the upper and underparts is also suffused with chestnut and mottled 

 with grey. Many of the primaries are mottled with white, and all are 

 tipped with white, and some of the feathers of the crown are coloured like 

 the back. It is supposed that this plumage is retained until the second 

 autumn, when an intermediate plumage is acquired, the fully adult plumage 

 not being assumed until the third autumn. It is probable that some of 

 the feathers of the head and neck, especially the moustachial plumes, are 

 moulted in the spring. 



TTDT^ 



