THE GEEAT INDIAN BUSTAED 131 



The Great Indian Bustard. 



Eupodotis echcardsi. Hukna, Hindustani. 



The largest and most esteemed of Indian game-birds, this 

 fine bustard is easily recognizable ; in size it exceeds the ordinary 

 domestic turkey of India, and its long neck and legs make it con- 

 spicuous. Its colour is dull brown above, white below; in the 

 old male the neck is also white, but in hens and young cocks 

 this part appears grey, owing to being pencilled over with black. 

 In any case the crown of the head is black, contrasting strongly 

 with the light cheeks. 



On the wing this bustard looks not unlike a vulture, moving 

 with slow heavy sweeps of the wings, but it flies low and never 

 sails. 



Old cocks — and these alone ought to be shot — are distinguish- 

 able not only by their white necks, but by their much greater 

 size, as they are twice as big as hens, often weighing twenty 

 pounds, and it has been said sometimes even twice as much. In 

 length the cock is four feet, the hen about a foot less, while the 

 wing expanse is about double the length. The great Indian 

 bustard is a purely Indian bird, and is still found in the same 

 districts as it frequented in the days of the pioneers of Indian 

 ornithology. 



In Ceylon and the extreme south of India it is not found, 

 nor in the eastern portions, Bengal, Behar, Chota Nagpore, or 

 Orissa. Needless to say, it does not extend into Burma or the 

 Malay countries; but, curiously enough, the Australian bustard 

 (Eupodotis australis), commonly known in the Commonwealth as 

 " plains turkey," or simply as " wild turkey," is so very similar 

 to the Indian bird that it can hardly be regarded as anything 

 but a local race of the same species, although one would have 

 expected to find a bustard of any sort in Australia about as much 

 as a cockatoo in India. 



Presumably the bird once ranged throughout the interveniujg 

 countries, but these became unsuitable for it owing to a change 

 in conditions ; probably the growth of forest, for even in its 

 chosen haunts in the plains of the Peninsula of India this 



