OTIS TABUA TARDA 143 



To the east of this recorded range its place is taken by a very 

 closely allied sub-species, Otis tarda dijboicskii. This sub-species has 

 no rufous breast-band in the male, and in that sex there is also a band 

 of white or greyish-white formed by the median wing-coverts. The 

 female differs from the female of Otis tarda tarda, if at all, in having 

 the head a somewhat darker grey. 



In India the Great Bustard has been obtained on only six 

 occasions ; on one of these, two females have been shot, on the other 

 occasions, single females. 



It was first obtained by Hume's collectors in 1870, and Hume thus 

 records the event : — 



"Once, and once only, as yet, has the Great Bustard of Europe 

 been obtained within the limits of the British Empire in the East. 



" On the 23rd of December, 1870, a couple of my collectors, who 

 were working at Mardan, under the direction of Dr. J. A. Johnson, 

 then of the Guides, came across a party of Bustard in some fields of 

 mustard and giant millet, belonging to Hashtnagar, and just north of 

 the Kabul river. The birds were very shy, but my old jamadar 

 succeeded, by driving a buffalo in front of him, in getting within shot 

 and knocking over a female. 



" This Hashtnagar is within a few miles of the very most north- 

 westerly point of British India proper, and is in lat. 34° N., and long. 

 7'45° E. 



"This party of Bustard did not leave the neighbourhood for some 

 weeks, but they were so wary that, despite all the efforts of many 

 sportsmen, native and European, no second specimen could be 

 obtained ; and, notwithstanding repeated subsequent inquiries from 

 officers stationed at Mardan, Michni and Shabkadar, in the midst of 

 which Hashtnagar lies, I have never been able to learn that the Great 

 Bustard has again re-visited the locality." 



After this, its next record is that by Colonel Fooks, I. M.S., in the 

 columns of ' The Field ' of the 11th February, 1911, to which article 

 my attention was drawn by Ca.ptain A. H. Mosse. Colonel Fooks' 

 interesting note is as follows : — 



" Great Bustard shot in India. — The Great Bustard is a very rare 

 visitor to India, only one specimen having been shot, in December, 

 1870. Now, after forty years, two others were shot on January 8th, 

 by a duffadar of the 15th Lancers, near the place where the first was 

 killed. It was very coldoverthe north of India about Christmas, the 

 thermometer falling to within half a degree of the record, which 

 accounts for their presence here, and also for some Mute and 



