ETYM Old Fren. and Prov. French bistarde, French outarde, from Latin avis tarda, lit., slow bird.
Large heavy-bodied chiefly terrestrial game bird capable of powerful swift flight; classified with wading birds but frequents grassy steppes.
Large cranelike bird of Europe; American and Canadian, the Canada goose. great bustard, largest European land bird.
Bird of the family Otididae, related to cranes but with a rounder body, a thicker neck, and a relatively short beak. Bustards are found on the ground on open plains and fields.
The great bustard Otis tarda is one of the heaviest flying birds at 18 kg/40 lb, and the larger males may have a length of 1 m/3 ft and wingspan of 2.3 m/7.5 ft. It is found in N Asia and Europe, although there are fewer than 30,000 great bustards left in Europe and two-thirds of these live on the Spanish steppes.