550 THE GREAT-BUSTARD 



This is probably the true solution of the problem. That the old cocks 

 do definitely pair with single hens, and accompany them while the 

 eggs are being laid, is an undoubted fact, and Colonel Verner, who is 

 a strong supporter of the theory of polygamy, admits that he has 

 occasionally flushed an old male in company with a hen from the 

 standing corn in which the eggs were then being laid. Dr. Cullen 

 also describes how the male struts about, occasionally uttering a 

 peculiar note, at a distance of one hundred or one hundred and 

 fifty feet, displaying as already described, while the hen is sitting. 

 But it is equally certain that when the hen has settled down to 

 incubate, the males leave them altogether, and again return to the 

 " bandas " which they have temporarily deserted. No doubt any hen 

 which had failed to secure a partner would then receive the attentions 

 of one of these "grass-widowers." The Naumanns were of opinion 

 that when the young were some weeks old the family party was 

 re-united. This may be the case where only scattered pairs are met 

 with, but is apparently not so in districts where the bird is plentiful. 



Most nests are to be met with in the cornfields, and these seem to 

 stand a very small chance of hatching off, as the eggs are almost sure 

 to be picked up for eating purposes or for sale by the labourers 

 hoeing between the crops. A few, however, must escape, and those 

 which breed on the weed-grown fallows and grasslands stand a much 

 better chance, and are comparatively seldom disturbed, so that in 

 Spain, at any rate, the numbers of this species are well maintained. 

 There is really no nest, and the bits of vegetable matter which one 

 finds occasionally with the eggs seem to have got there quite by 

 chance. It is curious that there should be such differences of opinion 

 with regard to the number of eggs laid, as the explanation is really 

 a very simple one. Even Howard Saunders, who had seen something 

 of the bird in Spain, gave the number as two to three, while the late 

 Lord Lilford (quoted by Colonel Yerner) asserted that it often laid 

 four and rarely five eggs. Naumann long ago stated that usually 

 not more than two eggs were to be found in one nest, and that 



