ALEOTOBIDES. OTIDIDÆ.
OiiS;. t e tr a x , L in n a e u s .*
THE LITTLE BUSTARD.
Otis tetrax.
T h e L it t l e B ustard can only be' considered an accidental,
and, generally; a winter visitor to this country. The
male -has never, so far as the Author and the Editor are
aware, been killed here in the plumage assumed during the
breeding-season; nor have the nest and eggs been found;
and most of the specimens, of which many are recorded,
* Otis Tetrax, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p.
some'of them males, have occurred.in the winter* half-year,
_ithat is, from the middle óf autumn to the middle-* of
spring' : 'both sexes, during that .period,-wearing the same
livery. ;
Bewick mentions two' British-killed female specimens:
one of-them from the vicinity t>f Newmarket ;/ andBatham
cites another,- also a female, killed near- Romsey, in January,
1009« Pennantÿecords -the occurrence'óf one inf Cornwall •
go long ago as 1751, and since that'date ' about a^ dozen have
been killed in tha t c o u n t y Six or seven-instançes’.might
hè • enumerated ’ of itA visitsttotDeyonshire : two*of them ^só
recently; as-December, IBSl ; and it has occurre<Lwith more
or -less frequency in* Hampshire, ‘ Sussex^ Kent, Essex!
Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and -Suffolk. -As Regards
Norfolk,’owing to- th e c a re fu l'”manner in which * the _ ornithology
ef tha t coiintjT has been worked- otit by Mr. H.
Stevenson -and ^others,-about dozen- examples-vare on
recórd : all in winter pluniage:. g There is/however, ah example
now-in-the-Sélection of the British-Museum to-whieh especial
iiitarest attaches’owing'tb its being-a mâle-in breeding
.plumage, and, consequently, an exceptiomdo ‘the statement
made - above ; but Mr, -Stëvenson/sMnvèstigatións shew -that
there is no eyidence-4o uprose -that-Tt was killed in-Norfolk,
or éven1 in Britain (Birds of ^Norfolk, ii.- p. 4$)^ Proceeding
northwards, two ^Little Bustards- are found to -have visited
Éifeplnshire*; about a^olTen have occurred-'in various^ parlé
oF-Yórkshire ; a * few 'in - Nottingham and oth'er Midland
Counties fp^%hree ?in^Northumberland ; and, probably, a
good many others iii counties not, - specially enumerated
here. Ah unusual number’were/obtained dh' the wihter of
1874- 75. In ^cStl-and' four- ‘examples- ha%ft occurred -all
* InEWg ‘ S y n o p s i s M e w b u m writes,frmn
date Svtb'Mareli, m g .'f lia tin Jnly,^ ^ ^Le obtained a male,, which Lesent
tiTBèwick'; 'tint*1nothing ’is 'sâjfd'^fffiS^luinàge. - 1 „ * _
I f;A: male .aiid-a fema^tfeei former- in breeding plum&g.e„ -purchased at th«
sale-,of th'e date M r.J j^ a ^ , gre.iiorW in; tb^ ^ollectiay.-.Qf. Mr- J.-Whitaker^ of
Mnworth Lodge, near, Mansfield. I t might be assumed that tbess are tie'two
examples/which we r e n e ^ N e .w a r k to n -T r e n t b'nf M r . ^ ^ £ y Æ
dence on the point. H
i V OL III.