140 The Great Bustard 
lines of twenty to thirty men armed with hoes, with which they 
traverse systematically every yard of the young standing corn in 
order to eradicate the rapidly growing weeds which would otherwise 
choke the corn as it is ripened. These parties are unfortunately 
always at work in the months of March and April and, consequently, 
come upon many nests and all fresh Bustards eggs are invariably 
taken by them to eat. Those Bustards which resort to the bean- 
fields are even worse off, for when the beans are pulled (about the 
first week in May) every nest is inevitably found and even if not 
taken the birds desert the eggs owing to the destruction of all cover 
around them. 
Be it as it may, possibly owing to the immunity which those 
birds enjoy which wisely resort to the reeds, fallows, and grass- 
lands to nest, the numbers of these splendid birds in South-Western 
Andalucia, judging from my own observations, have not decreased 
during the last thirty years. It would, indeed, be, from the view 
of the bird lover, almost a European disaster if they were to 
die out. 
It is well known to all interested in bird-life that when once 
a “fact”? regarding natural history has been duly recorded, it takes 
a long time to disprove it, successive authorities being content 
to quote from one another without seeking for further information. 
Among such is the generally accepted statement regarding the 
number of eggs laid by the Great Bustard which has been recorded 
as two from time immemorial with the explanation that when four 
egos are found in a nest ‘no doubt two females have laid” in it. 
In consequence when I first saw a nest with four eggs I duly noted 
the fact and entered the usual stock explanation in my diary. 
By good chance my notes some years later were read by the late 
Lord Lilford, undoubtedly one of the best authorities on the birds 
of the Spanish Peninsula, who very kindly pencilled across the 
page: “ The Great Bustard often lays four and rarely five eggs. L.” 
