352 BUSTARD. 



Great Bustard, Gen. Syn. iv. 796. Br. Zool. i. No. 98. pi. 44. Id.fol. 87. pi. N. 

 Ed. 1812. i. p. 376. pi. 48. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 186. Id. Sup. p. 63. Will. Engl. 

 178. pi. 32. Edw. pi. 79. 80. Albin, iii. pi. 38. 39. Pit/. Mem. pi. p. 196. 

 Bewick, Birds, i. pi. p. 314. Lewin, Birds, iv. pi. 139. Id. PI. xxiii. 1. — the 

 egg. Walcot, Birds, ii. pi. 173. Pull. Dors. p. 6. Shaw's Zool. Led. t. 72. 

 Rural Sports, ii. t. p. 383. Orn. Diet, fy Supp. 



THIS is the largest of the Land Fowl in these Islands, the male 

 weighing from twenty-five to thirty pounds ; length four feet, breadth 

 nine. The bill is dusky ; irides pale hazel ; the head and neck are 

 ash-coloured ; the back barred transversely black, and bright rust- 

 colour; quills black; belly white; tail barred red and black, and 

 consists of twenty feathers, the two outer ones nearly white, with 

 two or three bars of black ; legs dusky brown. 



The female is about half the size of the male, and weighs rarely 

 more than twelve pounds; the crown of a deep orange, crossed with 

 transverse black lines; the rest of the head brown; lower part of 

 the neck before ash-coloured, otherwise like the male, but the colours 

 of the back and wings more dull. 



The male differs, too, from the female, in having a tuft of feathers 

 about five inches long, on each side of the lower mandible; besides 

 which, there is a pouch, on the fore part of the neck, capable of 

 holding nearly seven pints of water, the entrance immediately under 

 the tongue. This, whatever uses it may be put to, seems of conse- 

 quence while the female is sitting, which is generally at a great 

 distance from water; or for the young, till they can move from the 

 nest : a different use of this bag has been observed at Morocco, where 

 it is usual to fly the Hawk at the Bustard ; for on the attack of the 

 Hawk, the Bustard has been known to make use of this reservoir of 

 water, to spirt it out against the assailant; who, not uncommonly, 

 by this means is baffled in the pursuit. 



The Bustard makes no nest, but lays the eggs on the ground, 

 scratching a hole in some dry corn field ; generally two in number, as 

 big as those of a Goose, pale olive-brown, marked with spots of a 



