138 The Great Bustard 
primaries and a generally appalling appearance. ‘‘No!” says 
Number Two, equally crackling all over and strutting around 
ferociously. ‘Zhen stay where you are,’ remarks Number One, 
wheeling about and adroitly evading the difficulties of the situation. 
The favourite nesting-place of the Great Bustard is amid the 
corn-lands, this is especially the case when the season is an early 
one and the young barley or wheat is advanced enough in the 
month of April to afford good cover. In backward seasons the 
Bustards seem to prefer the bean-fields, which, although not so high 
as the young corn, are of thicker growth and give better protection 
to the hen bird when sitting on her eggs. The great reed-grown 
plains which have been submerged in winter also offer suitable places 
for them to nest and I have also found nests on the open grass- 
lands at places where a few dead thistles and some coarse herbage 
served to give shelter to the old bird. On the fallows, especially 
when covered with mustard or any other rank weed, nests may at 
times be seen. The way in which a female Great Bustard will 
slip away from her eggs and run for some distance before taking 
flight without being detected by the sharpest of observers is ever 
a marvel. When the young corn is 2 ft. or so in height, one 
can realize the possibilities of such a manceuvre, but among still 
younger corn or scattered beans not a foot above the ground 
these great birds are equally expert in not divulging the position of 
their eggs. 
The reverse proceeding is adopted when they return to their 
eggs, for then they alight a long distance off and somehow or other 
manage to reach their nest unseen, and despite many hours of 
watching with field-glass and telescope I have never yet succeeded 
in actually fixing the precise situation of a nest right away, and it 
has required a most diligent search before I could find one. 
Nest proper there is none, the eggs being deposited on the 
bare ground; at times, especially when they are amid barley or 
