THE GREAT-BUSTARD 551 



instances of three eggs were very rare. This has been copied from 

 one author by another in book after book, and the instances in which 

 four eggs were found were curtly dismissed as the produce of two 

 hens. In Germany clutches of two eggs are certainly common, much 

 more so than in Spain, but even there sets of three are not nearly so 

 rare as Naumann supposed, and exceptionally four have been recorded. 

 In Spain, on the other hand, the three set may be said to be normal, 

 and four are not at all uncommon, while instances of five have 

 occasionally been met with. Both in Germany and Spain it is not 

 uncommon to find one egg in a nest infertile. 



The whole of the incubation is performed by the hen bird, who 

 sits very close, and has been captured by hand on the nest, and 

 probably Mr. St. Quintin's estimate of the period is the most accurate. 

 He found that the young were hatched out on the twenty-eighth 

 day. They are capable of running as soon as they are hatched with 

 considerable speed, and feed almost at once. The hen bustard is 

 a good mother, and protects them with considerable courage, and has 

 even been known to attack a mower who threatened her young. She 

 will also strive to distract the attention of an intruder from her young 

 by the usual devices of simulated injury. The newly hatched young 

 are quaint little creatures, very small in proportion to the size of their 

 parents, with enormous eyes and big heads, while the legs are much 

 thickened at the heel (tibio-tarsal) joint. They have a peculiar, far- 

 sounding and plaintive whistle, which has been aptly compared 

 to that of the kite. It has been known to alarm a hen which was 

 acting as foster-parent so much that she at once deserted her charge. 

 Under the care of the hen, the young feed on insects of various kinds, 

 beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, etc., in some cases caught by the 

 parent and placed before them, though they are soon able to capture 

 their own prey. In Germany, Naumann found that the earliest broods 

 were able to fly during the last ten days of July, and in August they 

 were strong on the wing, while in September the broods joined forces 

 with the troops of non-breeding birds and males to form big bands 



