GREAT BUSTARD. 209 



" You will perhaps be interested by the following few re- 

 marks on the habits of the Great Bustard, as observed by 

 me in the neighbourhood of Seville, where they exist in 

 large numbers. 



" The males begin to arrive in the cultivated part of the 

 country at the beginning of February ; they come in flocks, 

 varying from seven to fifty-three, the smallest and largest 

 numbers I have seen together at that season of the year. 

 The old birds always go together ; those of a year old, which 

 are much smaller, never mix with them. The young birds 

 have neither beard nor pouch. 



" The females do not arrive till the beginning of April, 

 and come singly, or at most in pairs : as soon as they arrive 

 the flocks of males begin to break up, and after about three 

 weeks you seldom meet more than three or four old males 

 together, they being very frequently to be met with singly. 

 At this time, on a fine day, they spread their tails like Tur- 

 key-cocks, drooping their wings and expanding their pouches. 

 Being perfectly white under the tail, they can be seen at a 

 great distance while in this attitude ; I have, however, never 

 seen a female near a cock, as apparently they live quite 

 separate. During the month of May the cocks entirely 

 disappear from the cultivated lands, leaving the hens behind 

 them ; they, I have every reason to believe, go down to the 

 extensive grass marshes which stretch along the banks of the 

 Guadalquivir. The young Bustards are hatched in the large 

 corn plains about Seville, and are able to take care of them- 

 selves when the corn is cut in July. At the end of that 

 month, when all the corn is cut and no cover remains, the 

 young birds and hens follow the cocks to the marisma, as 

 they call these great marshes in Spain. 



" The birds are very difficult to shoot, and many a long 

 day I have spent without any success in hunting them 

 about. The only chance is to hide in a ravine or ditch, and 

 send men who know the country round the birds to try and 

 drive them over you. They sometimes succeed in this, but 

 not very often. The heaviest bird I shot weighed 28 lbs. ; 

 this was before the hens came, which may perhaps account 



VOL. III. E E 



