Letters, Extracts, Notices, S^c. 405 



Bustard-hawking in Morocco. — ''As our horses and mules 

 were showing signs of fatigue, we remained at Saffi on the 

 following day, not by any means un^irofitably, and certainly 

 not unpleasantly. During the day we experienced the ex- 

 citement of hawking in Morocco. The Lesser Bustard was 

 our quarry, and the following was the method of procedure. 

 As soon as the whereabouts of a Bustard is discovered, the 

 falconer lets loose his bird and runs forward, directing it by 

 his cries and gestures. At first the Hawk flies at a low level 

 over the field, as if in search of its prey, till, rising higher 

 and higher, it sweeps round in graceful circles. The Bustard, 

 knowing its danger, and that the Hawk can only strike 

 during flight, keeps close, though in deadly terror. Now is 

 our time to rush in. Spreading out in a line, we give our 

 horses the rein and gallop forward helter skelter over rocks 

 and through bushes, ever in danger of a nasty fall over hidden 

 obstacles or from disused metaniores. We shout and halloo 

 till the welkin rings, to cause the Bustard to rise. Once up, 

 the excitement redoubles. We now scream and yell our 

 loudest, chiefly to direct the Hawk. There is a moment of 

 wild uncertainty, till the wheeling of the Hawk stops, and 

 down like a stone it sinks, and with one fell blow strikes its 

 victim to the ground. ^^ — Travels in the Atlas and Southern 

 Morocco, by Joseph Thomson (London, 1889). 



List of Ornithological Works in course of Publication 

 and Date of last Part issued. 



Bartlett (Edward) . A Monograph of the Weaver-Birds, 



Ploceidse, and Arboreal and Terrestrial Finches, Frin- 



gillid£e. Part III. (1889). 

 Bronn's (H. G.). Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier- 



Reichs, Vogel. Von Hans Gadow. Lief. 23, 24- (1889). 

 GiGLioLi (E. H.) and Manzella (A.). Iconografia delP 



Avifauna Italica. Fasc. 41 (1889). 

 Greene (W. T.). Parrots in Captivity. Part 30 (1888). 

 LiLFORD (Lord). Coloured Figures of the Birds of the 



British Islands. Part X. (March, 1889). 



