584 BRITISH BIRDS. 



feet high, and weighing from 15 to 30 lb., is necessarily a very conspi- 

 cuous object; consequently the Bustard chooses a locality where there is 

 little or nothing to intercept the view. It is very suspicious of danger, 

 and does not willingly place itself in a position where an enemy cannot be 

 discerned a long way off. My first introduction to the Great Bustard was 

 on the Wallachian steppes south of Bukharest. A day's sail down the 

 Danube from Giurgivo will, if you choose the northern arm of that river, 

 bring you to the little town of Kalarash. On the 28th of May last year, 

 Mr. John Young and I started in two waggons from that town, accom- 

 panied by a German chasseur who " knew the ropes," and to whom we were 

 indebted to the kindness of Mr. Green, of Bukharest. We were tired of 

 blowing Heron's and Egret's eggs, and gladly hailed the chance of a raid 

 amongst the Bustards. North of Kalarash the steppe extends with slight 

 undulations as far as the eye can reach. Most of the land is cultivated 

 with wheat, Indian corn, and other crops near the town, but after we had 

 driven about eight miles we found herds of cattle feeding on the grass, 

 horses, oxen, and buffaloes. The steppes abounded with birds. Flocks of 

 Stock-Doves and Turtle-Doves from Bulgaria, and pairs of Sky-Larks, 

 Calandra Larks, and Corn-Buntings were the commonest birds, and Quails 

 were continually heard. Now and then a Steppe-Eagle or a Black Kite 

 passed over ; and once we saw a flock of eighteen Griffon Vultures sailing 

 round and round. We spent an hour in the corn, hoping to put up a 

 Bustard ; but it yielded nothing but Quail and Montagu's Harriers, so 

 we made for the open steppe. Although the Bustard is so wary, he often 

 permits of the near approach of a waggon if the driver is concealed ; and 

 we soon had the pleasure of seeing a female Great Bustard rise from the 

 grass, and after a slight struggle take wing and fly slowly away. We ran 

 to the spot whence she rose, and were delighted to find two eggs on a 

 piece of bare earth trodden down into the semblance of a hollow. There 

 was no nest and scarcely any cover ; the grass was thin, and only here and 

 there were weeds high enough to shield the sitting bird from view in certain 

 directions. Whilst we were feasting our eyes on the eggs, she came round 

 again, but after one turn flew right away, with slow heavy flap of wing not 

 unlike a Heron. Soon afterwards we descried eight male birds on a slight 

 incline nearly a mile away. At first we mistook them for sheep, but our 

 binoculars soon convinced us that they were Great Bustards. In the 

 course of the day we saw several parties of two or four birds, and once a 

 flock of eighteen, probably last year's birds not yet breeding. The female 

 is very silent, but the male occasionally utters a note like the sy liable prunt, 

 and when alarmed both sexes make a sort of hiss. 



The breeding of the Great Bustard may, however, be seen much nearer 

 home than the valley of the Danube. On the 23rd of May, 1882, I took 

 the nest of a Great Bustard in North Germany. The Brocken is the highest 



