582 BRITISH BIRDS. 
to be that of Montagu (Orn. Dict. 2nd ed. p. 63), who was informed in 
1813 by the shepherds of Salisbury Plain that these noble birds had not 
been seen for the last two or three years in their favourite haunts. Since 
1845 the Great Bustard must be regarded as an accidental straggler im 
winter to our islands. For the first quarter of a century the occurrences 
of this bird did not average one every year, most of them being in the 
old breeding-grounds, but others in less suitable localities, as Cornwall, 
Devonshire, and Northumberland. During the winter of 1870-71 more 
than a dozen Great Bustards occurred in this country: one was seen 
in September by Mr. Harting, near Wells; seven were seen in North 
Devon, three of which were obtained, in December; one was shot in 
Middlesex in January ; and another, in the same month, on the coast of 
Northumberland ; whilst three others were seen on Salisbury Plain, one 
of which was shot (‘ Zoologist,’ 1871, p. 2472). During the next eight 
years three or four Bustards were seen in their old quarters, and one was 
shot as far north as the Orkney Islands; but in the winter of 1879-80 a 
second important migration of Bustards to this country took place. 
Examples are recorded from Jersey, Cornwall, Dorset, Cambridge, and 
Essex, and three from Kent. A similar migration of Great Bustards also 
occurred in France during the same year (Harting, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1880, 
p- 252). During the last four years there is no record of the Great 
Bustard having visited this country. There does not appear to be any 
authentic evidence that it has ever visited Ireland. 
The Great Bustard, where it has not been exterminated, breeds on all 
the steppes and large open plains throughout the southern portion of the 
Palearctic Region, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is not quite extinct 
in Denmark ; but is no longer found in Scandinavia, though it was formerly 
a summer visitor in the extreme south of Sweden. In Russia its range 
does not extend further north than Moscow or Kazan; and in Siberia 
than Omsk and the valley of the Amoor. It breeds in Mantchooria; but 
is probably only a winter visitor to Japan and North China, where it occurs 
as far south as the valley of the Yangtsze. South of the limits already 
mentioned it is still found in suitable localities throughout Europe, being 
especially common in some parts of Spain. It is found on the plains of 
Northern and Central Germany, Italy, the steppes of the Danube, South 
Russia, Turkey, and eastwards into Palestine and throughout Turkestan. 
It was formerly common in France, Greece, and North-west Africa, but 
is now very rare, and only known as an accidental visitor, principally in 
winter, to the latter country, as it also is to Asia Minor and North Persia, 
whilst it has even strayed as far as North-west India. 
Examples from Eastern Siberia have been described as distinct under 
the name of O. dybowskii, the characters relied upon being the somewhat 
smaller size, slightly longer and more slender bill, paler head, and the fact 
