BUSTARD. 
respe6ls, she resembles the male, except that 
the colours of the back and wings are brighter. 
Bustards were once far more common in 
England than at present ; the increased culti- 
vation of the country, and the extreme delicacy 
of the flesh, have occasioned great havock with 
this species. They are, however, still fre- 
quently seen, in flocks of more than fifty, on 
the extensive downs of Salisbury Plain ; on 
Newmarket and Royston Heaths, in Cam- 
bridgeshire ; and on the Dorset uplands. In 
these situations, where there are neither woods 
nor hedges to screen the sportsman, they en- 
joy a kind of indolent security. They feed 
on herbs, grain, and every kind of seed. But 
their chief food seems to be, those large 
worms which, during the milder months, 
swarm before sun-rise on the downs, and the 
numerous berries which grow among the 
heath. In vain does the fowler creep forward 
to approach them ; they have always centinels 
placed on proper eminences, which incessantly 
keep watch, and warn the flock on the smal- 
lest appearance of danger. But though they 
cannot be reached by a fowling-piece, they are 
sometimes 
