LITTLE BUSTARD. 
119 
by no means a frequent bird. On the borders of 
Europe it appears to occur more frequently, and we 
hare little doubt that it extends beyond the Asiatic 
boundary. It occurs also in Northern Africa, * and 
reaches to Russia in its most northern limit. The 
food is chiefly grains and vegetables, also at times 
insects ; Mr. Yarrell states, that, in a fresh speci- 
men which he examined, killed near Harwich, “ the 
stomach contained parts of leaves of white turnip, 
liverwort, dandelion, and a few blades of grass.” 
We have not an adult male before us for descrip- 
tion, but our figure will give an idea of the distinct 
black markings which occupy the neck and breast, 
and w r e add, from Mr. Yarrell, who can be depended 
upon for accuracy : — “ The adult male, when in the 
plumage peculiar to the breeding season, has the 
beak brown ; the sides golden-yellow ; the top of 
the head pale chestnut, mottled with black ; cheeks, 
car-coverts, the fronts and sides of the neck, bluish- 
grey, bounded inferiorly by a border of black passing 
to the back of the neck; below this is a narrow 
white ring all round the neck, and below this a 
broad collar of black, with a gorget of white, and 
another of black, at the bottom of the neck, in front ; 
shoulders, back, scapulars, tertials, and upper tail- 
coverts, pale chestnut-brown, streaked irregularly 
with numerous narrow lines of black ; all the wing- 
coverts, and base of the primaries, white, the distol 
half of the primaries greyish-black ; the secondaries 
patched with hlack and white ; the base of the tail- 
* Yarrell. 
