132 The Great Bustard 
But the nearest point to our islands where it still lives and is likely 
to endure for many years to come is in Spain. 
Numerous writers have described how this bird inhabits the 
great corn-growing districts in the Peninsula, and what a splendid 
sight they make. Much as the Great Bustard is to be admired 
amid the young corn of early spring, to me, who have lived among 
them for so many years, there is one sort of country and one 
alone, which belongs to them and to which they belong, the grass- 
grown and flower-strewn vegas or plains of Andalucia. To me 
the sight of a Great Bustard in a cornfield, however admirable, 
is a picture as unsatisfying as a red deer in a park, for in each 
case bird and beast lacks complete separation from man and his 
works; and without this separation its native wild beauty cannot 
tell truly. 
Many of these grass-grown plains of southern Spain are liable 
to floods and in some places during the autumn and winter to 
total submergence for months at a time. It is at such periods that 
the Great Bustards desert the level country for the undulating hills 
around, where they are practically undisturbed and but rarely 
seen, since few people traverse these districts during the winter 
months. English sportsmen in quest of wild-fowl or Snipe have 
often asked me where the Great Bustards go to during the winter, 
since they are so seldom to be met with. My own explanation is 
that owing to the vast extent of ground which is suitable to their 
habits and also owing to the difficulty of exploring the same during 
the period of the year when the torrential rains occur, the Bustards 
simply avoid observation. I am aware that this is somewhat of 
a negative argument and in support of it I have only my own 
experiences to draw from. These are briefly as follows. On the 
occasions when I have ridden over the hills I describe during the 
winter months, I have almost invariably come across small parties 
of Great Bustard. With the approach of spring they suddenly 
