110 THE BUSTARD. 



armed with a .22 repeating Winchester rifle, and we decided that, when 

 within range, he should fire first, while the other two of us should take 

 the remaining birds as they rose. At last, after toiling over the 

 muddy ground in the broiling sun, we were within range, and our 

 friend of the rifle took careful aim and fired. Nothing happened so 

 he fired again. Next moment a face appeared over the edge of 

 a low ridge, and a voice asked, in amused tones, what we were doing. 

 It was not till then that we discovered that we^ had been stalking some 

 decoys. That time the laugh was with the Chinaman. 



Allied to the bustard, almost as good eating and quite as difficult 

 to shoot, is the edible crane. In some places this bird is very numer- 

 ous, and can be hunted in the same way as the bustard. 



One of the most delightful spots for birds that I have come across 

 in my wanderings was some flat grassy country situated near the 

 southern border of the Ordos. For miles around the country was an 

 arid sandy desert, but here, where a few marshy lakes existed, the 

 flats were dotted over with huge flocks of cranes and bustards, geese 

 wandered in pairs in every direction, while the surface of the water 

 was alive with thousands of ducks, whose wings made a noise like 

 thunder as they rose at our approach. Plovers, curlews and other 

 waders filled the air with their plaintive calls. Unfortunately we 

 had a long w^ay to go that day, so that we could not spare the time 

 to stop and shoot. 



The bustard leaves the warmer plains in the spring and flies 

 Xiorthward to the breeding grounds in Northern Mongolia and Siberia, 

 so that it can only be hunted during the colder months. 



