I02 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



female alone appears to incubate the eggs, the time taken 

 ranging from three weeks to a month. At the approach of 

 danger she slips very quietly off the nest, and hurries away for a 

 little distance on foot, especially when the cover is dense, but 

 sometimes she rises from it into the air and flies slowly away. 

 During the breeding season, especially about the pairing period, 

 the males are very pugnacious. Only one brood is reared in the 

 year, and the young are soon able to quit the nest and follow 

 their parents. The flesh of the Great Bustard is by no means 

 unpalatable, especially that of the female and the young. An 

 old male will often weigh over thirty pounds. 



Diagnostic Characters.— C/w, with the head gray, and a 

 tuft of white bristly feathers at the base of the bill, the upper 

 parts chestnut-buff barred with black, the wings white, except 

 the primaries, which are blackish brown, the breast banded with 

 chestnut and gray, the belly white. Length, 45 inches (male). 

 In the female the bristles and chest bands are absent. Length, 

 36 inches. 



