70 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



by success, if intelligently attempted, as was the 

 case with the Capercaillie. Its sedentaiy habits 

 are certainly in its favour. There can be little 

 doubt that the indigenous Bustards were non- 

 migratory. At the present time this bird is purely 

 an abnormal winter wanderer to Britain, some- 

 times arriving in exceptional numbers, as during 

 the winters of 1870-71, 1879-80, 1890-91. 



A bird of the Bustard's wariness, gifted with 

 long legs and ample wings, and frequenting the 

 bare open country, is very well able to take care of 

 itself under all ordinary circumstances. Notwith- 

 standing this, even in some extra British localities 

 the bird is not so numerous as formerly, especially 

 in South Sweden (where, indeed, it is said to be 

 extinct) and Denmark. If we admit the specific 

 distinctness of Otis dyhowskii, found in Siberia, 

 China, and Japan, the range of the Great Bustard 

 will include Central and Southern Europe and 

 North-west Africa. It is said to visit Asia Minor, 

 North Persia, Afghanistan, and North-west India. 

 The favourite if not the exclusive haunts of the Great 

 Bustard are treeless steppes and vast grain lands. 

 It is more or less gregarious at all seasons, but 

 most so in winter, when it unites into flocks of 

 varying size, which roam the prairies in quest of 



