34 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
The weight of this bird varies considerably, some have been 
found of not more than ten pounds, others have been found 
of twenty-seven, and even thirty. The bustard is distinguished 
from the ostrich, the touyou, the cassowary and the dodo, by 
its wings, which, although disproporlioned to the size of its 
body, yet serve to elevate it in the air, and enable it to fly, 
though with some difficulty; they are generally about four 
feet from the tip of one to the other. The neck is a foot long, 
and the legs a foot and a half. The head and neck of the 
male are ash-coloured ; the back is barred transversely with 
black, bright, and rust-colour. The greater quill feathers are 
black; the belly white; and the tail, which consists of twenty 
feathers, is marked with broad black bam. 
The bustard (according to Plutarch) is found in Lybia, in 
the environs of Alexandria, in Syria, in Greece, in Spain, in 
France, in the plains of Poitou and Champagne ; they are fre- 
quently seen in flocks of fifty or more, in the extensive downs 
of Salisbury Plain, in the heaths of Sussex and Cambridgeshire, 
the Dorsetshire uplands, and as far as East Lothian, in Scot- 
land. In those extensive plains, where there are no woods 
to screen the sportsman, nor hedges to creep along, the bus- 
tards enjoy an indolent security. Their food is composed of 
the berries that grow among the heath, and the large earth- 
worms that appear in great quantities on the downs before 
sun-rising in summer. It is in vain that the fowler creeps for- 
ward to approach them, they have always centinels placed at 
proper eminences, which are ever on the watch, and warn the 
flock of the smallest appearance of danger. All therefore 
that is left the sportsman, is the comfortless view of their dis- 
tant security, lie may wish, but they are in safety. 
It sometimes happens that these birds, though they are 
seldom shot by the gun, are run down by grey-hounds. As 
they are voracious and greedy, they often sacrifice their safety 
to their appetite, and feed themselves so very fat, that they 
are unable to fly without great preparation. When the grey- 
hound, therefore, comes within a certain distance, the bus- 
tard runs oft flapping its wings, and endeavouring to gather 
air enough under them to rise; in the mean time, the enemy 
approaches nearer, till it. is too late for the bird even to think 
of obtaining safety by flight; for just at the rise there is al- 
ways time lost, and of this the bird is sensible ; it continues, 
therefore, on the foot until it is taken. 
If we may credit /Elian, there is no contrivance so simple 
as not to be fit for the capture of this bird, since that author 
relates, that, in the kingdom of Pontus, the foxes make use 
of a curious stratagem in order to take them. The fox ele- 
