ii8 Allen's naturalist's library. 



Lincolnshire, and the downs of Sussex, while the first ten years 

 of this century saw the extinction of the birds indigenous to 

 Salisbury Plain. On the eastern wolds of Yorkshire the sur- 

 vivor of former droves was trapped in 1832-33; and in Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk the last fertile eggs were taken about 1838, 

 though a few birds lingered to a somewhat later date." Such 

 is the epitome of the history of the extinction of this interest- 

 ing bird, and now only an occasional visitor comes over to 

 Britain, though sometimes several individuals are noticed, as 

 was the case in 1870-71, when it is supposed that the Franco- 

 German War and the consequent cannonading drove the birds 

 from their usually quiet haunts. Again an influx took place in 

 1879-80, when the species invaded Central and Northern France. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Great Bustard is now 

 rare in Denmark and Southern Sweden, where it used to 

 breed, but is at present confined to Central and Southern 

 Europe, being found in Hungary, certain parts of Germany 

 and Poland, while it is by no means a rare bird in Spain. 

 Eastwards it extends to Turkestan and Northern Afghanistan, 

 and it occasionally wanders into the extreme north-west of 

 the Indian Peninsula. In Siberia and China, O. tarda is re- 

 placed by 0. dyboivskii. 



Habits. — When I was in Hungary, I was very anxious to see 

 the Great Bustard, but, though we passed through country in- 

 habited by the birds, I was told that they were then difficult to 

 observe, as they hid themselves pn the fields of waving corn 

 and were not to be seen flying. 'As this was in May, when 

 Mr. Howard Saunders says that they moult their quills and 

 are unable to fly, there is little wonder that I did not suc- 

 ceed in seeing one on the wing. 



The food of the Great Bustard consists, besides occasional 

 worms, lizards, and small rodents, of green food, such as corn 

 and peas, and Dr. Aitchison records his finding in the crop of 

 an old male bird shot in Northern Afghanistan a ball of grass, 

 while the odour of the bird was such that it was with great 

 difficulty he could be prevailed upon to preserve it. The flesh 

 of the females and young birds is, however, highly esteemed. 



The males make a great show in the breeding-season, and 

 fight for the possession of the hens. A cock Bustard, at all 



