GREAT BUSTARD. 583 
that the lesser wing-coverts are grey like the greater and median wing- 
coverts, instead of being mottled with brownish buff and black like the 
back. Dybowsky states that he has obtained both old and young from 
Dauria. If this species really be distinct, it is probably the form which 
also occurs in China and Japan. The only male example which I have 
seen from these localities is one obtained by Mr. Ringer at Nagasaki, 
which agrees with Taczanowsky’s description. On the other hand, ?Abbé 
David states that the Bustard of China does not differ in any respect from 
European examples. Further research appears to be necessary before we 
can state positively that the eastern form of the Great Bustard differs from 
the western form, and that the examples hitherto obtained in the east are 
fully adult. 
In the extreme northern portions of its range the Great Bustard is a 
migratory bird; but even in Germany it is a resident. ‘These birds collect 
into large flocks during winter, which often wander a great distance from 
their breeding-grounds in search of food. In South Siberia it is only 
known in summer, although it is said to arrive at its breeding-quarters as 
early as March. In the Caucasus and Turkestan it might be described as 
a partial resident, breeding in the steppes from 5000 to 10,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, and descending in flocks to winter in the plains. 
To study the habits of the Great Bustard it is now, unfortunately, neces- 
sary to visit the continent. This noble bird is par eacellence the bird of 
the steppes. The continent of Asia, of which civilized Europe is only a 
peninsula, consists of a central group of mountains of enormous altitude, 
not inaptly called in many atlases ‘‘ the roof of the world,” flanked in 
various directions with outlyimg spurs, which stretch almost uninter- 
ruptedly from the Bay of Biscay to the Sea of Japan. These mountains 
are clothed almost up to the limit of perpetual snow with pine- and birch- 
forests, which extend northwards far beyond the Arctic circle. Between 
many of these ranges le extensive plais of fertile country, destitute of 
trees, where the deep rich soil produces endless varieties of brilliant 
flowers and delicate grasses, where these have not been partially removed 
to make way for the cultivation of wheat, rye, and other crops. These 
plains, which in America are called prairies, in Asia are called steppes. 
The most important of these steppes extends from Bukharest to Tomsk, a 
distance of about three thousand miles. This is the great breeding-ground 
of the Great and Little Bustards, the home of the Wallack, the Kalmuck, 
and the Kirghiz, and the paradise of sheep, cows, and horses. Hay and 
corn are so cheap that, in travelling for a thousand miles over the snow 
across the Barabinski steppe, watered by the tributaries of the Obb, I only 
paid for the hire of my horses a halfpenny a horse a mile. The steppes 
exactly suit the requirements of the Bustard—abundance of food and 
absence of cover. So large a bird, standing from three to almost four 
