410 LARGE GAME. chap. ix. 



but as it is a heavy and slow flyer, it is generally pos- 

 sible by hard riding to keep it in sight and to mark it 

 down, when the same operation is repeated, though it 

 often takes four or five shots before falling. Shooting 

 them on foot with the rifle is, I think, prettier work, as 

 shots can usually be obtained within a hundred yards, 

 and the bird cannot go far with a bullet through it. In 

 either way though three or four are often killed in the 

 day, particularly on the upland flats, where they are most 

 numerous. 



E. Ludwigii is hardly to be distinguished from the 

 last mentioned, except in size, measuring some six inches 

 more, or about forty-four inches, or forty-six inches, and 

 by its only frequenting the coast. All these species 

 possess the same habits and mode of living : stalking over 

 the flats in search of locusts and small snakes ; forming a 

 very rude nest on the ground, often nothing more than is 

 caused by their sitting in the long grass ; laying two eggs 

 of considerable size, and leading their young about as soon 

 as hatched. 



Besides the three above mentioned there are several 

 different kinds of bustard to be found — as many as eight 

 having been mentioned by some naturalists, — but they all 

 so strongly resemble each other in their general appear- 

 ance and habits, that to describe one is to describe all. 

 They are colonially known as " knorhaan," literally, scold- 

 ing cock, and are scattered all over Eastern and Central 

 Africa, different species existing on the uplands and open 

 plains, and in the thorn-jungle, though they are not, as 

 far as I know, found in any of the heavy timber forests. 

 They are handsome birds, with long legs and necks, weigh- 



