OTIS TARDA TARDA 145 



" As far as I know the Bustard has not been recorded in Chitral, 

 but I found that the Chitrahs had got a name for the bird, ' deo dagh,' 

 though it is said to be a rare one." 



Finally Roos-Keppell records receiving a specimen of the Great 

 Bustard at Peshawar on the 1st December, 1917. This is recorded as 

 a male weighing 14 lbs. 



It is interesting to note that all our records are of very young 

 birds ; a corroboration of the theory that young birds travel and 

 migrate further than old ones. 



Nidification. — The Bustard breeds all over Central and Southern 

 Europe, where there is suitable country obtainable, and in former 

 days was often known to breed in England, especially in the south- 

 eastern counties. Its strongholds in Europe, however, are Spain and 

 Central and Southern Russia. From Europe it extends to Northern 

 Africa and through Asia Minor and Persia as far as the extreme 

 north-west of India and into Afghanistan. The birds seen and 

 recorded from Eastern Siberia and China as Otis tarda are the 

 nearly allied sub-species, dijhowskii, which is often not distinguish- 

 able from our bird. 



During the courting season the male is said to display the most 

 extravagant antics. Finn says that when courting " the male com- 

 bines the extravagances of the pouter or fantail pigeons, besides 

 turning much of his plumage the wrong way ; " to this comliination 

 he may be said to add many of the courting attitudes of the turkey. 

 Where there is a slight eminence handy, proceedings are usually 

 ccfinmenced by the bird climbing up this and calling loudly until a 

 female or females are attracted, when he descends and goes through 

 a variety of strutting and bowing actions until he thinks he has won 

 the heart of the coveted female. He also erects his feathers, spreads 

 his tail and displays his wings in a trailing position and struts round 

 his bride much as a turkey does. These actions and the curious 

 twisting of the feathers are most beautifully shown in a plate 

 opposite p. 260 in ' Unexplored Spain,' and this plate also shows 

 how the general appearance becomes white during the pre-nuptial 

 contortions and displays. 



The Bustard is polygamous, but it is rather unfair to the male to 

 leave the matter thus ; for there is no doubt that the female vvill 

 10 



