KUPODOI'IS. 



241 



and water courses, is extremely shy and wary, and almost impossible to get within shooting 

 range on foot. Usually it is stalked with the aid of a horse and vehicle, the driver ever getting 

 closer, driving around it in gradually diminishing circles, until the bird starts to run preparatory 

 to Hight, when the driver slows down, and the shooter usually manages to fire just as it has 

 gained impetus enough to rise from the ground, firing if possible over the side of the trap. On the 

 inland plains between Narrabri and Moree, in November, 1896-7, these birds were unusually 

 numerous, especially during the former year, when there was a drought in the district. Except 

 in the breeding season the males may be met with in lar<,'e HocUs apart from the females. On 

 the 7th November, 1896, which is usually the latter end of the breeding season, birds were 



noted five miles out of Moree in flocks of 

 fifty or sixty, and one could easily drive 

 within shooting distance. At that time there 

 was hardly a vestige of anything green about 

 the place, dry bare earth, cracked in places, 

 was all that met the eyes for miles around. 

 A few months later the greater part of the 

 country between the Namoi and Gwydir 

 Rivers was in a flooded state, and during 

 my second visit in the following spring, on 

 Tyreel Station, on the latter river, the 

 cattle were almost hidden in the luxuriant 

 growth of herbage. At this time, driving 

 over the plains with Mr. C. J. McMaster, 

 only single birds or pairs were seen, for 

 they were engaged in the duties of incuba- 

 tion. The late Mr. K. U. Bennett informed 

 me that in the early part of 1897, driving 

 from Hay to Booligal, he saw a flock which 

 he estimated to contain over one thousand 

 birds. 



The k>od of the Australian I^ustard is 

 varied. It consists chiefly of various seeds 

 and fruits, insects and their larva', small 

 molluscs, reptiles, field mice and occasionally young birds. The stomach of one I examined, 

 shot on Buckiinguy Station in June, 1S97, contained about two parts seeds, some locusts, 

 centipedes, nests of a species of Pliasiiia, the heads and wing-cases of beeties,and a small 

 quantity of gravel. Stones are often found in the stomachs; one sent in spirits to the Trustees 

 of the Australian Museum, taken from a bird sent by Mr. Henry Perry, shot at ( Juirindi on the 

 I 2th May, 1895, contained among other things a boy's playing glass alley. 



Human enemies are not the only ones the Australian Bustard has to contend with. Formerly 

 the Dingo used to destroy large numbers in the sparsely timbered districts, now the Fox kills 

 these fine birds, which are utterly helpless as regards means of defence, and the worst of all is 

 the deadly baits left in the trail of the poison carts, ostensibly to kill rabbits, which they 

 undoubtedly do, but at the same time a large number of birds also. During a visit to Coonamble 

 in October, 1905, I was informed that around Quambone, thirty two miles west of that town, 

 Magpies, " Laughing Jackasses," and " Plain Turkeys" had been exterminated from that district 

 by eating the poisoned liaits laid for rabbits. 



During the breeding season the male has a curious habit of what is known as " displaying." 

 Ascendmg some slight eminence on the plain, he stands erect, the head thrown upwards 



61 



AUSTR.ALIAN BUSTARD. 



