THE GREAT BUSTARD, 
765 
here, another there. The carriage of the male is now 
proud indeed: he postures before the hen birds with 
swollen throat, and fan-shaped tail spread out like a 
wheel, much after the manner of a Turkey Cock; he 
takes wing unwillingly, and recommences operations as 
soon as he alights again. He looks proudly around on 
all sides, seeking a rival who should dare to try to wrest 
from him the swain’s reward: if one appears, a fight 
ensues; they pursue one another on either side, striking 
with the legs and wings, and biting; they chase each 
other on the wing, and dashing together perform 
evolutions in the air more like those of a bird of prey 
than those that one would expect from a creature so 
heavy and so addicted to terra firma. The conqueror now 
pairs off with his spouse, and they both quit the company 
of the younger birds, which have not yet arrived at 
maturity: these latter remain together in companies of 
from three to five in number. The former quiet behaviour 
and extraordinary wariness, which the enamoured swain 
had from time to time forgotten during his courtship, 
now returns as before. The hen bird attaches herself 
exclusively to her mate, and, with him, seeks out a 
suitable spot where to establish the cradle of their future 
progeny. Both birds are now always seen together, and 
wherever one flies the other is sure to follow. It is rare 
that the observer ever has an opportunity of watching 
the more intimate relations of their matrimonial life. 
Naumann states that the hen bird sits quietly down on 
the ground, whilst the male plays proudly round her, 
much after the same fashion as a Turkey Cock, amid 
stiff, formal bendings and scratchings of the feet, the 
neck puffed out and held in the form of the letter S, the 
moustache outspread, wings raised with the ends pointing 
