184 
NATURAL HISTORY 
tains Lewis and Clarice, in crossing the great range of 
mountains that divide the waters of the Missouri and 
Columbia, more than three thousand miles from the 
mouth of the former. 
Pint ada, or Guinea Hen. (PI. 28.) This singular 
bird is about the size of a common hen, but, being 
supported on longer legs, it looks much larger. The 
head is covered with a kind of helmet; the back is 
round; and the tail turned downward, like that of a par- 
tridge. The whole plumage is black, or dark gray, di- 
versified with white spots; and the wattles, proceeding 
from the upper chap, gives it a very peculiar aspect. 
In many parts of Africa, these birds are seen in nu- 
merous flocks, feeding their young, or leading them in 
quest of food. All their habits resemble those of the 
poultry kind, and they agree in every other respect, ex- 
cept, that the male and female can only be distinguished 
by the colour of their wattles; those of the cock being of a 
bluish cast, while in the hen they are more inclined to 
red. 
Bustard. (PI. 28.) This bird is considerably larger 
than the turkey, the male generally weighing from twenty- 
five to twenty-seven pounds. The neck is a foot long, 
and the legs eighteen inches. The wings, however, are 
not proportionable to the rest of the body, being but four 
feet from the tip of one to that of the other; for which 
reason the animal flies with great difficulty. The head 
and neck of the male are ash-coloured; the back is barred 
transversely with rust-colour and black; the belly is white, 
and the tail is marked with broad black bars. 
Bustards are frequently seen in large flocks in Eng- 
land on Salisbury Plain, the heaths of Sussex and Cam- 
bridgeshire, the Dorsetshire uplands, and as far as East 
Lothian in Scotland. Their food consists of the berries 
that grow among the heath, and the large earth-worms 
that appear on the downs before sun-rising in summer: 
and as their native plains afford no woods to screen the 
sportsman, nor edges to creep along, they may be said to 
enjoy an indolent security. As it often happens however, 
that they feed themselves so fat as to be incapable of 
