OTIS TARDA TARDA 151 



great he almost thought of leaving it ; it was so dark tliat he 

 scarcely knew what it was that he had got, and the scent was almost 

 enough to put oti' anyone from even a new acquisition. Notwith- 

 standing this, however, we are told that the flesh was eaten next day 

 and found excellent." 



Finn, in his ' Indian Waders,' also comments on this curious smell 

 of the Bustard, and suggests that it may be this which accounts for 

 the strange antipathy vi'hich is alleged to exist between horses and 

 Bustards. He quotes Pallas as saying in his ' Zoographia Eosso- 

 Asiatica ' that horses will trample on sitting hens should they get the 

 chance, and he adds that Bustards have got into trouble in England 

 by attacking horses. 



It is said that Bustards have been captured by being run down on 

 horseback and this may be true when they are found in places where 

 relays of horses and horsemen can take up the pursuit, otherwise it 

 seems incredible that birds of such power of wing should l)e thus tired 

 out and caught. They can certainly fly faster than any horse can 

 gallop across country, unless for a very short distance, and if not at 

 once put up by a fresh horse and rider and forced to fly again, would 

 have ample time to recover before their exhausted pursuer could come 

 to close quarters. 



During the non-breeding season the Bustard is generally found in 

 flocks (or droves, as flocks of these birds are usually termed). These 

 droves may number anything from half a dozen to twenty birds, but, 

 according to some authors, they are often seen together in much 

 larger numbers than this, and Hume speaks of parties of fifty 

 Bustards being seen together ; whilst Colonel Willoughby Verner 

 speaks of having himself seen seventy-four birds together in Anda- 

 lucia ; and Colonel Irby records that : " Bustards are usually found 

 in troops varying from half a dozen birds to as many as fifty or sixty, 

 and in September we have seen 200 together." Very often these 

 droves may break up and scatter over a large area of country when 

 feeding, but when disturbed, leaving the ground for some other, 

 they again unite and fly off together. 



Bustards are very omnivorous, but their food undoubtedly consists 

 mainly of grasshoppers and other insects, in addition to which they 

 eat all sorts of grain and a good deal of green vegetable matter. 



