LITTLE BUSTARD. 
299 
The weight is twenty -five ounces j 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 plumag*e, apparently a female. 
