180 EEMIXISCEXCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



Europe, principally in tlie steppes of South Eussia. This, 

 which I shot, and which my dog had some trouble in hold- 

 ing, had his head the height of my shoulder. It was so 

 heavy that had it been killed outright, I should have 

 had much trouble in carrying it. Luckily, it was only 

 wounded in the wing ; I took hold of his neck in my 

 right hand and made it walk by the side of me. We 

 had it dressed, and it was so substantial that there was 

 enough for ourselves and five servants. The Spaniard 

 where I lodged said that I should not have been able 

 to get so near the bustard had it not been sitting on its 

 eggs. Comme le crocodile cle la fable, je 'pleural lines 

 miifs, car chacun d'eux aurait pu me faire une 

 omelette.''^ 



" In returning from the fens," says Daniel, " in the 

 dusk of the evening, from snipe-shooting some years 

 since, I shot at a bustard which flew very low over my 

 head, not knowing at the time what bird it was, and 

 though the gun was charged with small shot the bird, 

 from the short distance was so wounded, as to be caught 

 by a shepherd within three hundred yards of the place 

 the morning after. This bird weighed nearly twenty- 

 eight pounds, and the shepherd sold it for a guinea to a 

 gentleman at Cambridge." 



In Morocco they fly the falcon at the bustard, and 

 when the hawk approaches and makes his stoop at him, 

 he has^ been known to spirt the water in his assailant's 

 eyes,, and has by this means baffled the pursuit of his 

 enemy. Like the ostrich, it swallows small stones. 

 Buffon relates that in the stomach of one opened by the 

 academicians there were found (besides small stones) 

 to the number of ninety doubloons, all worn and polished 



