2224 



THE BUSTARDS, THICKNESS, AND CRANES 



insects, these birds also consume numbers of rats, mice, and reptiles; and this coarse 

 feeding renders their flesh unpalatable. Difficult to approach within gunshot range 

 by stalking, bustards may frequently be bagged by driving. In length this species 

 measures from forty-five to fifty inches in the male, of which the general weight is 

 from seventeen to twenty-two pounds. 



Of the numerous African representatives of the genus, one of the best known 

 is the Arabian bustard (E. arabs) of Abyssinia, in which the iris is pale brown, 

 with dark radiating streaks, the beak is dusky above, and dirty white below, while 

 the legs are yellowish. The finest of all is, however, the South- African kori bus- 



ARABIAN BUSTARD. 



tard (E. kori) the ghaum-pauw of the Boers, which attains a size and weight 

 considerably exceeding that of its Oriental cousin. This bird derives its Dutch 

 name from its habit of feeding on the gum of a species of mimosa, although it is 

 likewise very partial to grasshoppers; and it differs from many of its allies in being 

 voiceless. Messrs. Eglington and Nicholls write that, when feeding on the open 

 plains, the kori is a very ' ' difficult bird to approach sufficiently near for the range 

 of a shotgun; and the best plan to adopt under such circumstances, if on horseback, 

 is to ride slowly round at a distance of a couple of hundred yards from the bird and 

 gradually narrow the circle. If this tactic is adopted it will, like most others of 

 the bustard tribe, often lie down as if to escape notice, and thus a shot may be ob- 



