OTIS. 203 



Otis tarda. GREAT BCSTAED. 



OtiS tarda Linncnts, Syst. Nat, 1758, p. 154 : Poland. 



Otis tarda Linn. ; B. 0. 17. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 153 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds B. M. xxiii. 1894, p. 284; Sounders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 523. 



Tarda, the Spanish name, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat. x. p. 29) a Celtic or 

 Basque word, bearing no relation to tardus slow. Tarda and Bistarda are 

 always used as substantives, like the French Outarde (from avis tarda, 

 through the Provencal Austarde, as avis struthio became Autruche in French 

 and Ostrich in English) and our Bus-tard. 



distribution in the British Islands. An Occasional Visitor. 

 Formerly a resident and abundant on the moors and exten- 

 sive plains and downs of England, and met with in the south- 

 east of Scotland. From Salisbury Plain it disappeared in 

 the early part of the last century, and in east Yorkshire the 

 last bird was taken in 1832 : but in Norfolk and Suffolk 

 it nested up to 1838 and survived until some years later. 

 It is now an irregular visitor, occurring in some years in 

 considerable numbers, notably in the winters of 187071, 

 1879-80, and 1890-9] . Several examples killed in December 

 1902 in Lincolnshire, Glamorganshire, and Ireland may have 

 been the result of an unsuccessful attempt at reintroduction 

 into Norfolk in 1900. In Scotland few have been recorded, 

 but one occurred in the Orkneys in 1886. 



General Distribution. The Great Bustard breeds in Europe 

 and in west Siberia and south-western Asia from Germany, 

 Poland, and Russia, eastwards to Semipalatinsk and the 

 Kirghiz Steppes, southwards to the Spanish Peninsula and 

 south-eastern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, and Transcaspia. 

 Formerly it bred in southern Sweden and Denmark. On 

 migration it visits Persia and occasionally north-western 

 India ; also north Africa, from Tunisia to Morocco. Its 

 eastern limits are not yet defined, but in eastern Siberia it is 

 represented by a closely allied form, 0. t. dybowskii. which 

 winters in China and Japan. 



