Scientific name: Tetrax tetrax (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Cranes and Bustards
Field characters. 40-45 cm. Much smaller than Great Bustard, but with similarly mottled sandy-brown mantle and white underparts. A shy and wary bird which is difficult to observe until it flies. Male in breeding plumage with thick, black neck outlined by white bands; face and throat blue-grey; upperparts and crown sandy, vermiculated and speckled grey and black. In flight it shows broad white wing panel, interrupted by black tips on primary coverts and inner primaries and black outer primaries. Female has upperparts paler and more coarsely blotched and streaked with black; underparts whitish, closely barred on breast and flanks; without black-and-white neck. Adult male non-breeding and juvenile resemble female. Rises with a rattle of wings and flies with neck extended.
Voice. Display note of male is a far-carrying snort: "prrrit"; when flushed it utters a short "dahg".
Distribution. Locally fairly common resident, especially in Spain.
Habitat. Frequents grass plains and cultivated fields with cereals.
Food. Feeds on plant material (shoots, leaves, flowers, grasses, clover, turnip) and invertebrates (beetles, grasshoppers, field-crickets, snails, worms), also small frogs and field voles.