GREAT BUSTARD. 439 



in reference to the Great Bustard, and was immediately 

 favoured with the following answer : 



" My very little acquaintance with North Africa does 

 not extend beyond the neighbourhood of Tangier, and 

 there I did not see the Great Bustard, nor have I received 

 its eggs from that quarter in the several packets which 

 have been forwarded to me : but this proves nothing; it 

 only renders it probable that this bird is not common in 

 the immediate vicinity of that town. 



" Of Spain I have almost equally little to say. One 

 day, about the month of September, going up the Guadal- 

 quivir in a steam-boat to Seville, I saw several flocks of the 

 Great Bustard at no great distance from the river banks, 

 on the level, and at that time of the year burnt up, plains 

 wliich extend, almost without trees or enclosure, on each 

 side of the Guadalquivir. These flocks consisted, as I re- 

 member, of four or five birds each ; and from the deck of 

 the vessel, which was almost on a level with the land, they 

 appeared to be walking in file, some with their heads down, 

 and reminding one of Gilbert White's note, ' Bustards upon 

 the downs look like deer in the distance.' This appearance 

 of walking in a row was probably deceptive. There was 

 nothing in their manner to give the impression that they 

 were timid, or very cautious, but one at least of a party 

 frequently had its head raised as the steamer passed at a 

 few hundred yards' distance, and with the help of my 

 glass I thought this was generally a cock bird. On one 

 occasion, as the boat came suddenly round a corner, several 

 of them rose together from the edge of the water, spring- 

 ing hastily to the height of forty or fifty feet, nearly per- 

 pendicularly, partly perhaps to clear the bank, and then 

 turning suddenly and somewhat clumsily, and after a few 

 more not rapid strokes, sailing along with the arched form 

 of wing so general in game birds. 



