Bustards

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Bustards are whopping great birds. They have longer bodies than turkeys, weigh up to 30 pounds (13 1/2 kilos) and have a wing span up to 7 feet (2 metres.) Despite the impressive wing span, they are not great flyers and can only fly for short periods. To compensate, they evolved into good runners and can run faster than a greyhound. When they aren't running, they have a very stately walk.

Bustards have a grey head and neck. There are white feathers on the under part of bird, with a reddish-brown breast band. When alarmed, they make a sharp bark. They are not very prolific breeders: females only lay two or three eggs a year.

Bustards today (2004) are most plentiful in Spain, Portugal and Russia. They were hunted to extinction in the UK. Reintroduction started in 2004, with chicks brought in from Russia to be raised and bred in Wiltshire.


History Notes for Bustards

Ancient Greeks had Bustards at feasts the way we have turkey. Bustards were part of Medieval Christmas feasts.


They were considered very flavoursome, and because of their impressive size they were a prized, festive dish to serve. The Mayors of Salisbury in Wiltshire used to serve bustard at their inaugural feasts.The birds were cooked just as turkey now is, and were said to taste like partridge.

Bustards were still considered just as desirable after the turkey arrived in the UK in the 1520s. Because of overhunting, by the late 1700s they had begun vanishing from the fields and from under the silver domes on English dining tables. Their scarcity increased their price. In the early 1800s, one would have cost about two guineas. A guinea was worth 240 pence, at a time when the average income of a person in the UK in 1830 was about 20 pence a day, thus requiring 12 days labour just to buy a bustard. Imagine if you had to work 12 days to afford a turkey (you almost do now, with what's left on your pay slip after tax!)

By 1840, they were considered extinct in the UK, though a Mr H.M Upcher of Norfolk claimed to have spotted one on his property in January 1876 in a Fen near Feltwell, Norfolk (and no one's doubting he did, bless.)

Literature & Lore about Bustards

"Stuff an olive with capers and anchovies and put it in a garden warbler. Put the garden warbler in an ortolan, the ortolan in a lark, the lark in a thrush, the thrush in a quail, the quail in a larded lapwing, the lapwing in a plover, the plover in a red-legged partridge, the partridge in a woodcock - as tender as Mlle Volnais, the woodcock in a teal, the teal in a guinea fowl, the guinea fowl in a duck, the duck in a fattened pullet - as white as Mlle Belmont, as fleshy as Mlle Vienne, and as fat as Mlle Contat, the pullet in a pheasant, the pheasant in a duck, the duck in a turkey - white and fat like Mlle Arsène, and finally the turkey in a bustard." -- Alexandre Grimod de La Reynière (1758-1838), in L'Almanach des Gourmands, published 1803.

Language Notes about Bustards

The Romans called the bird "Avis Tarda", meaning "slow bird". Pliny mentions the bird: "aves, quas Hispania tardas appellat" ("the bird, which in Spain is called slow"). It's difficult to know where the slow bit ever came in, as bustards can actually run like hell.


The Portuguese have a habit of swapping in b's for v's, so they transformed "avis tarda" into abetarda. The French shortened it to "bistarde", which in English became "bustard".

A bunch of bustards is referred to as a "flock".

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Also called:
Otis tarda (Scientific Name)
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