glossy olive-green, occasionally spotless, but more often
blotched with dark bronze colour. The Spaniards say
that the Little Bustard generally produces two broods;
this statement I can neither deny or confirm from
personal knowledge, but I have reason to believe that
it is correct.
In captivity this bird becomes very tame, but is
delicate and very susceptible of damp in cold weather.
The Little Bustard abounds in certain parts of the
Danubian provinces, the Crimea and Southern Russia
generally; I have met with it in Albania, Sicily, and
Sardinia, and have received specimens from Cyprus.
Mr. H. Saunders tells us that it breeds freely on the
plains that extend across France from Marne to La
Vendee, where it has greatly increased of late years,
arriving about the end of March or early in April, and
leaving in September. I believe that these dates would
apply generally as regards this bird to most of its
summer haunts to the north of the Alps and Pyrenees,
but in the south of Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily it is to
be met with throughout the year. For a most amusing
account of the pursuit of this species and the Great
Bustard on the downs of the Dobrudscha, I refer my
readers to a delightfully written article by Mr. W. H.
Simpson in ‘The Ibis5 for 1861, p. 361.