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XVII. On the Habits and Structure of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda of Linnaeus). 

 By William Yarrell, Esq., V.P. and Treas. Linn. Soc. fyc. 



Read January 18, 1853. 



OOME kind friends having supplied me with various particulars relating to the habits 

 of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda of Linnseus), most of which, as far as I am aware, have 

 not been made public, I have endeavoured to put these materials together, in the belief 

 that they might be found sufficiently interesting to be communicated at a meeting of the 

 Linnean Society ; the great scarcity, or rather, the now rare occurrence of the bird in this 

 country, affording but few opportunities for observation. 



The first communication came from C. A. Nicholson, Esq., of Balrath Kells, in the 

 county of Meath, and was as follows : — 



" You will perhaps be interested by the following few remarks on the habits of the 

 Great Bustard, as observed by me in the neighbourhood of Seville, where they exist in 

 large numbers. 



" The males begin to arrive in the cultivated part of the country at the beginning of 

 February ; they come in flocks, varying from seven to fifty- three, the smallest and largest 

 numbers I have seen together at that season of the year. The old birds always go together ; 

 those of a year old, which are much smaller, never mix with them. The young birds have 

 neither beard nor pouch. 



" The females do not arrive till the beginning of April, and come singly, or at most in 

 pairs : as soon as they arrive the flocks of males begin to break up, and after about three 

 weeks you seldom meet more than three or four old males together, they being very fre- 

 quently to be met with singly. At this time, on a fine day, they spread their tails like 

 Turkey cocks, drooping their wings and expanding their pouches. Being perfectly white 

 under the tail, they can be seen at a great distance while in this attitude ; I have how- 

 ever never seen a female near a cock, as apparently they live quite separate. During the 

 month of May the cocks entirely disappear from the cultivated lands, leaving the hens 

 behind them ; they, I have every reason to believe, go down to the extensive grass marshes 

 which stretch along the banks of the Guadalquivir. The young bustards are hatched in 

 the large corn plains about Seville, and are able to take care of themselves when the corn 

 is cut in July. At the end of that month, when all the corn is cut and no cover remains, 

 the young birds and hens follow the cocks to the marisma, as they call these great marshes 

 in Spain. 



" The birds are very difficult to shoot, and many a long day I have spent without any 

 success in hunting them about. The only chance is, to hide in a ravine or ditch, and send 

 men who know the country round the birds to try and drive them over you. They 

 sometimes succeed in this, but not very often. The heaviest bird I shot weighed 28 lbs. ; 



