A tall, strong, and stately bird is this, slow and sedate in its general manners and movements, frequenting plains, and heaths, and open moors, where it can have a wide range of vision, and so be aware of the approach of an enemy. The gradual extension of cultivation over its favourite places of resort, and the incessant war waged against it by sportsmen, anxious to bag such a noble head of game, have nearly driven it from our island. A specimen was shot as late as January, 1856, near Hungerford, in Berkshire.
The prevailing colours in the plumage of the Great Bustard are white or bluish grey, and yellowish or orange brown, with black mottlings; the legs and beak are dark horn-colour; underneath the chin is a plume of narrow feathers, falling backwards, and partly covering the front and sides of the neck; they are six or seven inches long, and very light and graceful.
The Bustards are called graminivorous, but are somewhat omnivorous feeders; mice, frogs, worms, and young birds are occasionally added to their usual vegetable diet. We have a species called the Little Bustard, much smaller than the one we have been describing, and also a very rare bird. The eggs of both these species are great treasures to collectors; those of the larger kind are like what our artist has represented, of an olive brown colour, clouded and spotted with ash and rust-colour. They are generally two in number, laid on the bare earth, or in a hollow carefully lined with corn stalks or grass; the length is nearly three inches. The eggs of the Little Bustard are more decidedly green, with ashy or dull brown variations.
WHISTLING, YELLOW, GREEN, GREY, OR BLACK-BREASTED PLOVER.
Of the _Pluveline_ Birds, or Plovers, we have several species in this country, and the one above named is the commonest. Naturalists call it _Pluvialis aurea_, the first term meaning a Plover, and signifying rainy, or pertaining to rain, and the last golden; or _Charadrius pluvialis_. Of the meaning of this generic name we are obliged to confess our ignorance; by some it is, applied to all the Plovers, and by others to the Sand Plovers only. This Golden species is a very remarkable bird, both in its habits and appearance; all the under parts of the body, the breast, throat, and sides of the head up to and above the eyes, are of a deep velvet black; then comes all round an edging of white, which deepens into grey tinged with yellow; and then again all over the back, pinions, tail, and top of the head, are black feathers, beautifully bordered, and barred with what appears to be gold embroidery. It is a nimble active bird, constantly running about on the open plains and ploughed fields in search of food, which consists of insects of various kinds, green corn and leaves of vegetables, small berries, etc.; or in flying hither and thither in the air, now close to the ground as if about to settle, and then with a sudden upward wheel urging a strong and swift flight to some distant part of the field, or sea shore, which is a favourite resort in winter, where the birds collect in large flocks, uttering their wild shrill whistle, which harmonizes well with the sounds of the winds and waves.