210 OTIDID.E. 



for this bird being two pounds heavier than any I shot after- 

 wards. The largest bird, from tip to tip of wing, measured 

 7 feet 3 inches ; this bird weighed 26 lbs. The 28 lbs. bird 

 measured but 7 feet 1 inch.* 



" The birds of a year old weigh from 8 to 10 lbs., and are 

 much the best to eat. I did not shoot a hen. 



" All the birds I shot had their stomachs perfectly 

 crammed with barley, "both stalks and ears, the leaves of a 

 large-leaved green weed, and a kind of black beetle. The 

 pouch is surrounded by a layer of fat fully an inch thick. 

 I may add that the Bustards when flushed generally fly two 

 miles or more, sometimes at least a hundred yards high. 

 They never try to run ; one that I had winged making the 

 most awkward attempt possible to get away from me, and 

 though a young bird, showing much more disposition to 

 fight than to get away by running. They fly with a regular 

 flap of the wings, and much faster than they appear to go. 

 I cannot imagine greyhounds being able to catch Bustards, 

 though there seems to be good authority for believing ^bey 

 did." 



To Italy and to the islands of the Mediterranean the Great 

 Bustard is merely a straggler, but in Greece it is not un- 

 common, and on the plains of the Danubian Provinces, the 

 South of Russia, and Turkey it is abundant, crossing to 

 Asia Minor in severe weather ; and on the plains of Northern 

 Syria it is apparently resident. Its visits to Morocco are 

 rare and irregular, but Loche says that it was formerly com- 

 mon in Algeria, where it is now rare. Passing eastward, it 

 occurs throughout temperate Asia, as far as China, where 

 Mr. Swinhoe obtained it ; and Japan, whence Messrs. Blakis- 

 ton and Pryor have sent specimens to Mr. Seebohm. The 

 bird found in Eastern Siberia has been distinguished by 

 M. Taczanowski, under the name of Otis dyhowskii, and is 

 described as being smaller than the present species, but with 

 longer moustaches. Mr. Hume states that a flock of five 

 or six Great Bustards has once straggled to Murdan, west 

 of the Indus (Ibis, 1871, p. 404). 



* Males have been obtained weighing 34 lbs., and even more. 



