EUPODOTIS EDWARDSI 179 



me the other birds were not far off, and on my standing up the last 

 of them flew off from some 150 yards away. 



" Tliere is no finer bird than a male of the Great Indian Bustard, 

 and the delight in handling the magnificent plumage was mingled 

 with a genuine feeling of regret — now the excitement was over — that 

 the stately bird would no more proudly stalk his native plains." 



In writing to me he adds that on another occasion he combined 

 a stalk and a drive with great success. 



" It was with reliable information of the Bustard being in con- 

 siderable numbers that Major H. Greany, I. M.S., and myself took 

 the train for the small wayside station of Tugalli, in January, 1896. 

 Within half a mile of the station we discovered six birds feeding 

 among some stunted babul bushes and arranged for one of us to 

 stalk and the other to lie up on the chance of getting a shot as the 

 birds flew on. The stalk fell to my share and resulted in a success- 

 ful right and left with S.S.G. at 60 and 90 yards rise, the other 

 birds going straight over the Doctor, who dropped one bird with 

 S.S.G. from his right barrel and merely staggered another bird, as 

 he had loaded the left barrel with No. 6 shot, being afraid to fire 

 S.S.G. from the choke barrel of his best 'Alexander Henry! '; the 

 wounded bird carried on until out of sight, and we did not succeed 

 in finding him. The three birds secured were all hens and weighed 

 17 lbs. to 18 lbs. each." 



Another correspondent, who desires to remain unnamed, sends 

 me a very interesting account of a two days' stalk after Bustard, 

 which shows that success does not always attend even the hardest 

 worker under the most advantageous circumstances. He writes : — 



" The Great Bustard has always been an object of admiration to 

 me, and I have spent many long days after him, sometimes with 

 the success that makes a man feel above himself for days together, 

 but more often, I must admit, with the failure that makes a man 

 feel his smartness to be great depths below the bird he is after. 



" In April, 1902, I had the good fortune to be stationed at . . . 

 an ideal place for Bustard in every way. Birds were remarkably 

 plentiful, and though the ground was mostly very bare, it was rolling 

 and even hilly in places, so that by taking advantage of the rises 

 and dips, and by making use of the tufts of grass, an odd ber-bush 

 or so, or of stones and rocks larger than usual, one could often 

 carry out a genuine and successful stalk. 



" Starting early in the morning, indeed, almost before it was 

 light, I was soon on my shooting-ground, but even at that time the 



