LITTLE BUSTARD. 



Otis tetrax, Linn. 

 L'Oularde canepetiere. 



Although the Great Bustard {Otis tarda, Linn.) was at one time common in England, we are by no means 

 so well assured that such was also the case with respect to the hird before us ; indeed we should suspect, from 

 the localities which it affects, that its visits to the British shores have ever been, as at the present day, acci- 

 dental and of rare occurrence. Its habitat appears to be more exclusively confined to the southern portion 

 of Europe, especially Spain, Italy and Turkey, as well as the northern coast of Africa ; and although occurring 

 in the central parts of France, it is by no means a common bird ; nor is it at all found in the northern parts 

 of the European Continent. If, however, we are not to consider the Little Bustard as one of the birds strictly 

 indigenous to our island, still the circumstance of its having been often killed in England fully entitles it to 

 a place in the Fauna of this country. Of the various British specimens taken, we may refer among others to 

 one in the possession of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, shot at Warkworth, in the autumn of 1821 ; 

 another in the possession of Mr. Selby, shot in February 1823; and a third in the collection of Mr. Yarrell, 

 which was taken near Harwich. 



The specimens above enumerated, as well as all those of which any report has reached us, have been 

 either invariably females or immature males, and in no instance an adult male, so conspicuous for the beautiful 

 and singular markings which ornament the plumage of his neck and chest. We may here observe, that we 

 have been unable satisfactorily to ascertain, either from our own observation or the information afforded by 

 M. Temminck, whether these bold and decided markings constitute its summer plumage, being lost during 

 winter, as in many species of the allied genus Charadrius; or if they are borne throughout the year, so as to 

 constitute a permanent characteristic. In the specimen (in the author's collection) from which our figure was 

 taken, this beautiful state of plumage is exhibited in a manner which the pencil is hardly adequate to convey. 



The habits and manners of the Otis tetrax are strictly characteristic of the genus to which it belongs ; and 

 its general conformation and strength of limb render it well adapted for the station it occupies among those 

 birds whose province is more peculiarly the ground, the surface of which affords them food and a place for 

 nidification. The present species frequents open and extensive wilds or uncultivated districts, particularly 

 uncovered arid plains, where, far removed from the habitation of man, it finds a secluded abode consonant to 

 its reserved and timid disposition ; and in these places, among the short herbage, it constructs an inartificial 

 nest, and deposits from three to five eggs, of a uniform glossy olive-green. 



In the male, the top of the head and occiput are light yellow, contrasted with numerous dots and lines of 

 black and brown ; the throat and cheeks slate-colour deepening, as it proceeds, to black, which continues in a 

 line for some distance down the front of the neck, around which runs a necklace of pure white, commencing 

 on each side of the occiput ; the back of the neck (where the feathers are elongated into a short mane), and the 

 sides, are of a deep jet black which meets across the lower part of the neck beneath the white necklace ; over 

 the breast extends a large crescent-shaped collar of white, below which is a narrower one of black ; the whole 

 of the back and sides of the chest light yellow with shades of reddish brown, thickly barred and dotted with 

 elegant zigzag markings of black (which follow the outline of each feather,) interspersed, especially about the 

 upper part, with large black spots and dashes ; the edges of the greater wing and tail-coverts white ; the 

 quill-feathers blackish brown ; tail yellowish with zigzag markings like those of the back, and crossed by in- 

 distinct bars, with indications of others ; the middle of the chest and whole of the under surface pure white ; 

 bill olive-brown ; irides orange ; legs and tarsi yellowish grey. 



Length eighteen inches ; tarsi three inches ; middle toe one inch and a quarter. From the joint of the tarsus 

 to the feathery part of the thigh one inch ; wing lengthened, and somewhat rounded. 



The females and young males have the whole of the upper surface barred as in the male with dark brown 

 zigzag markings on a fawn-coloured ground ; the wing-coverts edged with white ; the quill-feathers dark 

 brown ; the chin white ; neck yellow, marked with longitudinal stripes, which as they proceed merge into 

 transverse bars, becoming more and more decided on the chest, where the ground is still yellow ; the under 

 parts are pure white. 



We have figured a male and female in their full plumage, two thirds of their natural size. 



