Weights of Great Bustard 145 
extraordinary richness, the delicate lavender grey of the head 
and throat forming a beautiful contrast to the rich russet gorget 
below which in some birds almost approaches a vinous red. 
It is at this period that the birds seem to attain their maximum 
weight. Six old male birds shot by a party of three guns, of 
which I was one, in the month of April, averaged over 34 lb. each, 
the heaviest being 37 lb.; no doubt the contents of the crops 
accounted for some of this great weight. All the same, judging 
from subsequent experiences it is my belief that these birds would 
have scaled very much less had they been shot a month earlier. 
Certain is it that during the months of March and April the 
amount of food suitable for Bustards, whether it be young herbage 
or insects, increases day by day to a marvellous extent, as all 
those who know Spain in spring-time can testify. The crops of 
these birds were full of fine grasses and green herbage, having 
the appearance of spinach in its mashed condition. They also 
contained big grasshoppers and beetles of various sorts. The 
mysterious gular pouch, only present in adult males, having its 
entrance below the tongue, the object of which has baffled so 
many scientific naturalists, is at this time of the year at its 
greatest distension and thickly encased in fat. The huge swelled 
neck is firm to the touch although extremely pliable, and must 
add no inconsiderable amount to the total weight of the bird. 
I regret now that I have never weighed the head and neck of 
an old male bird shot in April and also one killed during the 
winter months, for I feel sure that the difference between the 
two would be very great. The story that the gular pouch was 
an adaptation of Nature to carry a water-supply for the female 
and young is of course not true. 
The flight of the Great Bustard is extraordinarily quick and 
without effort. Before they take wing they simply walk for a few 
and, opening their snowy white wings, 
paces—no attempt at a run 
Io 
