SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS, 59 



It is the sole representative of a group of birds (Oti'^a-) that is widely 

 scattered over the world. A few hundred years ago one species was common 

 in the south of England, and used to be hunted with greyhounds. Others 

 are found on the plains of Africa and Asia. 



In the breeding season the female makes no nest, but deposits her egg 

 '(some writers say there are sometimes two) in a depression in the ground or 

 crab-holey country, or near lignum bushes. The baby turkey, as soon as he 

 hatches out of the egg, is as cunning as most ground birds, and can look 

 after himself. Never moving when discovered, he will allow himself to be 

 picked up and handled, but will run off when placed on the ground. 



Concerning the food of the Bustard, I have seen some very curious state- 

 ments published. Mr. Aflalo, in his " Natural History of Australia," speak- 

 ing of the Bustard says : " Lives entirely on the open plains, feeding upon 

 lizards and roots. As a game bird, the Bustard ought to be protected, but a 

 great deal of nonsense has been written about the great importance of the 

 Bustard or wild turkey from an insectivorous standpoint. In northern 

 Victoria, though the wild turkeys used to follow the grasshoppers, they were 

 ■always rare birds, and a flock of a dozen or twenty was a large one ; usually 

 they were found in a family party of four or five, and on a 600-acre paddock 

 full of grasshoppers would not make as much impression on the pest as the 

 -crows or magpies." In Lucas and Le Souef s " Birds of Australia," the 

 .authoi\s say : '' At times when crammed with grasshoppers, which they are 

 doing their best to destroy, they fall victims to the stick of the ungrateful 

 but hungry settler." If the authors mean that the wild turkeys, gorged to 

 repletion, can be approached and killed with a stick by a hungry selector, 

 the birds must have deteriorated or be very different birds to those we used 

 to hunt on the plains of northern Victoria. I have examined the crops of 

 many Bustards, and in the spring the main part of their food consists of 

 dandelion heads and other vegetable matter, together with a few centipedes, 

 ground weevils, beetles, and other insects found on the plains. In the summer, 

 the crops contained chiefly grasshoppers, but their food was very varied. In 

 Victoria, in particular, the great insectivorous value of the Bustard has been 

 very much over-rated — for example, see Mr. Hall's " Useful Birds of Southern 

 Australia " when dealing with this bird . 



The Bustard, like all other large game birds which nest upon the ground, 

 is bound to disappear with the advance of civilisation, wire fences, cultivation 

 paddocks, and forest destruction, to say nothing of the introduction of the 

 fox and other giound enemies. It is our finest game bird, and should be 

 protected as a game bird, when it would probably increase in time in 

 uncultivated areas, and be a valuable asset. I have weighed many Bustards 

 ranging from 12 lb. to 16 lb. in weight, and it is not uncommon to get one 

 over 20 lb. in weight. From a sportsman's point of view, this bird 

 always took good hunting, and, if one's luck was out, one might spend all 

 •day and never get one. Many a day have I spent driving turkeys, which 



