54 O T 
to Terra Auftralis, in 1801-3.—This circumftance was 
previouily known to ornithologifts, but not to the gene¬ 
rality of perfons. The following anecdote is related by 
Mr. Montagu, in the work before quoted : “ One of this 
fpecies, (hot in Devonfhire in the year 1804, and taken to 
Plymouth market, was bought by a publican for a {lul¬ 
ling; an evident proof that refined luxury had not found 
i ts way fo far weftward from the metropolis, fince a poul¬ 
terer in London would have demanded two or three gui¬ 
neas for it. But fo rare a wanderer was not ftamped with 
its real value where it was unknown ; and the landlord, 
perhaps conlidering it fit for a fecondary table, fairly fpe- 
culated upon the coft of a dilh that perhaps did not ex¬ 
ceed one halfpenny in the pound, and had it drefledfor 
the dinner of fome riders. Thefe itinerant gentlemen, 
being as ignorant as the natives of the prize fet before 
them, and perceiving, upon difleftion, the difference in 
the colour of the pedloral mufcle from the other part of 
the breaft (a circumftance not unufual, efpecially in the 
groufe kind), voted it improper food, and ordered it 
from the table.” The great buftard is represented on the 
annexed Plate, at fig. 1. 
a. Otis Arabs, the Arabian buftard : crefts Springing 
from the ears. This bird, which the Arabians call lo- 
hong, and which Edwards firft figured and defcribed in 
his Gleanings of Natural Hiftory, is nearly the Size of our 
great buftard, and, like it, has three toes on each foot, 
turned the fame way, only rather fiiorter ; the feet, the 
bill, and the neck, are longer ; and, on the whole, it is 
more taper in its {hape. The plumage on the upper part 
of the body is browner, and fimilarly marked to that of 
the woodcock; or it is tawny, and radiated with deep 
brown with white fpots, in the form of a crefcent, on its 
wings. The lower part of the body is white, as alfo the 
margin of the upper part of the wings. The crown of 
the head, the throat, and the fore-fide of the neck, are 
marked with tranfverfe bars, dull brown on a cinereous 
ground. The lower part of the leg, the bill, and the 
feet, are of a bright brown, and yellowifh; the tail 
droops like that of the partridge, and is ftained with a 
crofs black bar; the great quills of the wing and the 
creft are alfo of the fame colour. 
The creft forms a remarkable character in the Arabian 
buftard ; it is pointed, diredled backwards, and much 
inclined to the horizon : from its bafe it fends off two 
black lines, of which the longer one paffes over the eye, 
and makes a kind of eye-lid ; the other, which is much 
fhorter, ftretches under the eye, but does not reach it; 
the eye is black, and placed in a w'hite fpace. An indi¬ 
vidual of this fpecies lived feveral years in the poffeftion 
of fir Hans Sloane; it was brought from Arabia Felix, 
which is fuppofed to be its native climate. It penetrates 
the Afiatic continent as far as the Cafpian fea. 
3. Otis tetrax, the little buftard : head and throat 
fmooth. It is feventeen inches long. The eggs are of a 
fliining green ; the bill is grey-brown ; crown black, with 
rufous bands; temples and chin reddifli-white, with fmall 
dark fpots ; neck of the male black, with a white collar ; 
body above varied with black, rufous, and white; be¬ 
neath and outer edge of the wings white. It is fliy and 
cunning: if molefted, it will fly two hundred paces, and 
run fo faft that a man cannot overtake it. Towards the 
clofe of the feafon, they prepare to quit the country; and 
are then obferved to alienable in flecks, and the young 
ones are no longer diftinguifliable from the old. They 
feed, like thole of the great fpecies, on herbs and grain, 
and alfo on ants, beetles, and fmall flies; and are faid 
to be extremely fond of the tender leaves of the fow- 
thiftle. 
This bird was not known to the ancients. It is not dif- 
perfed through fo wide a range as the large fpecies. Lin- 
nteus fays it is found in Europe, and particularly in 
France. It has been met with only a few times in Eng¬ 
land, and all the lpecimens were females. It is more fre¬ 
quently taken in France in nets, like the partridge, as 
1 s. 
well as by hawking. The flefti is dark in colour, yet jgf 
much efteemed, being of a very high flavour. The eggs 
are alfo accounted a delicacy. 
One of this fpecies, preferved in the mufeum of Mr. 
Turnftall, was a few years fince (hot in Suffex. They 
are frequent in the fouth-weft parts of Ruflia, and in the 
deferts of Tartary ; but have not yet been feen in Siberia. 
4. Otis Afra, the African, or white-eared, buftard: 
black; back cinereous, ears white. This differs from the 
Arabian buftard, by the colours of its plumage, and its 
fmaller fize. It is nearly as large as the pintado ; length 
twenty-two inches. The bill yellow, and bent at the 
end, where it is black ; the crown of the head is blackifti 
brown, irregularly barred with white lines; on the ears 
a large fpot of white; the reft of the head, with the fore¬ 
head, neck, and under parts of the body, black. Round 
the lower part of the neck is a band of white, which paffes 
forwards to the breaft like a collar, but does not quite 
meet before. The upper parts of the body, great part of 
the wings, and tail, are deep blackilh brown, crofted with 
irregular ftreaks of different (hapes, and of a rufous co¬ 
lour. The outer edge of the wing and quills are black; 
above thefe a large bed of white, occupying almoft the 
whole length of the wing; the fecondaries are longer than 
the quills, and hang over and hide them in a ftate of reft. 
The tail confifts of fourteen feathers, is five inches in 
length, and a little rounded ; all the feathers are marked 
not unlike thofe of the back, but more inclined to a(li- 
colour, paleft at the end ; befides which, all but the two 
middle ones are crofted with two bars of black. The 
lower part of the feathers, round the middle of the thighs, 
are white : the legs yellow: claws black.' See the Plate, 
fig. 2. The female has the head and neck like the back, 
but the lines more delicate, and the breaft and belly black, 
like the male ; but the white fpot on the ears, and ring 
at the lower part of the neck, are wanting. 
Thefe birds are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, 
where they are known by the name of kor-rliaan. Kolben 
calls them hnor-cook, hnor-hen . They frequent heaths 
and places remote from habitations : they build their nefts 
in bufhes, but never lay above two eggs in a feafon. The 
flelh is of an agreeable tafte, but not equal to that of the 
great buftard. Sparrman fays, that it artfully conceals 
itfelf till one comes pretty near it, when it fuddenly foars 
almoft perpendicularly aloft, with a (harp quavering 
feream, horrh, horrh ; whence the name it has received at 
the Cape. 
5. Otis Bengalenfis, the Bengal buftard : black; fpace 
about the eyes dulky brown ; back, rump, and tail, 
ihining brown. This fpecies is not only fmaller than the 
European, the African, or the Arabian, but it is taller in 
proportion, and more flender. It is twenty inches high, 
from the crown of the head to the plane on which it (lands; 
its neckfeems to be (horter in proportion to its legs; but 
in other refpefits it is entirely analogous to the common 
buftard. The bill is fome what hooked, though more 
elongated. Black, fulvous, white, and grey, are the 
predominant colours of its plumage, as in the European 
buftard ; but they are differently diftributed. The black 
is fpread on the crown of the head, on the neck, the 
thighs, and the lower part of the body; a bright-yellow 
occupies the Aides of the head and the circuit of the eyes; 
a browner yellow, and one more (haded with black, ftains 
the back, the tail, that part of the wings next the back, 
and the top of the breaft, where it forms a broad belt on 
a dark ground ; the white appears on the coverts of the 
wings fartheft from the back, and white mixed witIi black 
on the intermediate fpace; the deeped grey is laid on the 
eye-lids, the extremity of the longeft quills of the wing, 
of fome of the middle and fliorteft ones, and on fome of 
theircoverts ; laftly, the brighteft grey, which verges on 
white, is fpread on the bill and the feet. This bird is a 
native of Bengal, where it is called c/iurge. It is repre- 
fented on the Plate, at fig. 3. 
6. Otis aurita, thepafl’arage buftard : black; bodjr above 
- reticulate 
