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i68 IN NORFOLK BY THE SEA 



This bird, quite apart from its own very quaint 

 appearance and habits, must always have a great 

 interest for British ornithologists, as it is the nearest 

 surviving link we have with the great bustard, now, 

 alas ! extinct in this country. It is nocturnal in its 

 habits, and is extremely wary and shy. Although on 

 its arrival in spring it keeps well away in the open, it 

 generally lays its eggs not far from a covert or belt 

 ^ of trees. The pair of which I speak had chosen the 

 middle of a gravelly space among the pines. By 

 creeping up on hands and knees under cover of a 

 bank one could gain a position, just fifteen paces 

 away from the nest, without being observed : so close 

 that with my glass I could see the light shine through 

 the crystal prominence of the sitting bird's great 

 yellow eyes. At intervals one bird would relieve 

 the other on the nest. When disturbed the birds 

 always ran for shelter to a bank beneath the pines. 

 And here the bird that was not sitting always stood 

 ^e^xtr^i as sentry. When its turn came to reHeve its mate it 



would walk pretty deliberately across the first part of 

 the open, where it was more or less screened by a 

 fringe of trees; and there,, having reached a point 

 that was commanded from a long way off, it would 

 suddenly lower its head and run as fast as a red-leg 



