KUPODOTIS EDWAEDSI 183 



gentleman mentioned therein who " killed above one thousand 

 Bustards with his rifle." At the same time we must remember 

 that those were the days when tigers averaged twelve feet, and it was 

 a poor shot who could not get his brace or two before chota liazri. 



Its area of habitat as given by Jerdon is much the same now as 

 it was then, and such notes as I have had sent me show that its 

 numbers have not changed much in any particular place during the 

 last twenty-five years. Thus in 1879 Hume quotes Mr. G. Vidal as 

 saying, " This species is found very sparingly in the eastern districts 

 of the Poona and Satara Zillas." He then goes on to say that he 

 only saw three specimens in five years in Satara, but that in Poona 

 there are two or three places where it may be found yearly. After 

 this Hume quotes Davidson as reporting it to be becoming yearly 

 rarer in these parts, so that having been so scarce fifty years ago 

 we should now expect it to be exterminated ; yet Lieut. E. G. 

 Phythian Adams, of the 80th Infantry, writing in May, 1910, 

 informs me he knows " of its existence in the following districts : 

 Satara, Poona, Sholapur, where it is uncommon." 



Colonel L. L. Fenton, I should note, says that " some thirty years 

 ago Bustard were fairly common in the Sholapur district, where they 

 used to breed. I have also shot them in the Eabinnur Taluka of the 

 Dharwar district. A few I also came across in the Kaladgi, now 

 Bijapur, district." 



Mr. J. E. James reported it as common in Hume's time in Khan- 

 deish and Nasik, and all my correspondents in that part of India say 

 that it is so still. 



From the Deccan reports are conflicting, but my correspondents 

 who have gone most carefully into the matter tell me that the 

 number of birds differs greatly in different years, and one writer adds 

 that it is quite possible for a sportsman who does not know the 

 district to be there a year and leave with the impression that the 

 Bustard is but a rare straggler therein, whereas the man who has 

 lived some years in the Deccan and knows exactly when and where 

 to look for these grand birds may consider them almost common. 



On the whole, therefore, we may hope that our finest Indian 

 game-bird is not on its way to extinction, and that its vi'ariness, com- 

 bined with its open habitat, may enable it to survive any persecution 



