LITTLE BUSTARD. 299 



The weight is twenty -five ounces ; length sixteen inches and a 

 half ; breadth thirty-five. Bill dusky brown ; irides pale crimson ; be- 

 hind the eye a space bare of feathers ; upper part of the head, hind neck, 

 and whole upper parts, including the smaller coverts of the wings, are 

 a mixture of pale ferruginous and black, disposed on each feather in 

 lines and bars, in a most elegant manner ; the row of coverts imme- 

 diately impending* the tail, white, with transverse black bars, the tips 

 white ; on the fore part of the neck the markings are more distinct, 

 and the ferruginous occupies the middle of each feather ; but towards 

 the breast the markings change, and the black becomes undulated in 

 distinct transverse lines on that part, continuing the same down the 

 sides ; the cheeks streaked with dusky ; the throat is plain yellowish 

 white ; belly, vent, and thighs, white ; sides of the under tail coverts 

 barred with black ; the four first quill-feathers dusky half way from 

 their tips, their base white ; the six next white, except a large black 

 spot at their tips, and a very small black mark on their shafts ; the 

 eleven following, white, with two or three black bars on each, most on 

 the outer webs, and a small spot of the same at their tips ; the tertials 

 next to the body are similar in colour and markings, to the back and 

 scapulars, and nearly as long as the prime quills ; the coverts of the 

 secondary quills, white, barred with black ; the tail consists of eighteen 

 white feathers, closely spotted with irregular small markings of black, 

 with three conspicuous bars of the same ; the light part of the four 

 middle feathers inclines to ferruginous ; at the base of all the white 

 predominates ; legs yellowish brown and scaly ; the toes dusky brown, 

 connected together at the base by a small membrane ; claws of the same 

 colour. Along the back of the neck is a considerable space bare of 

 feathers, but covered with down ; on the breast, the down at the base of 

 the feathers is of a pale rose-colour. 



This appeared to be a young bird, yet the ovaries were sufficiently 

 conspicuous. There was nothing remarkable in the windpipe, (trachea^ 

 and the stomach had nothing of the nature of that of granivorous birds, 

 but was of a most unusual size, distended by various herbs, reaching 

 from the gullet to the vent. Nothing but vegetables were observed, 

 and of that a great variety, but particularly some species of trefoil. 

 From this conformation of the stomach, we may conclude the bird to be 

 wholly graminivorous ; and in all probability the Great Bustard is pre- 

 cisely of the same nature. 



" Two individuals," says Selby, " were recently killed in Northum- 

 berland. One of these, in the possession of his Grace the Duke of 

 Northumberland, and from the tints of its plumage, apparently a female, 



