34 WILD SPAIN. 



for putting his convoy in motion. If we disappear below 

 the level of his range he will settle the point negatively ; 

 setting us down as only some of those agricultural 

 nuisances which so often cause him alarm, but which his 

 experience has shown to be generally harmless — for 

 attempts on his life are few and far between. 



Another charming spectacle it is in the summer-time to 

 watch a pack of bustards about sunset, all busy with their 

 evening feed among the grasshoppers on a thistle-covered 

 plain. They are working against time, for it will soon be 

 too dark for them to catch such lively prey. With quick, 

 darting step they run to and fro, picking up one grass- 

 hopper after another with unerring aim, and so intent 

 on their feed that the best chance of the day is then 

 offered to thfeir pursuer, when greed, for the moment, 

 supplants caution, and vigilance is relaxed. But even now 

 a man on foot stands no chance of coming near them ; his 

 approach is observed from afar, all heads are up above the 

 thistles, all eyes intent on the intruder : a moment or two 

 of doubt, two quick steps and a spring, and the strong 

 wings of every bird in the l)and flap in slowlj^-rising motion. 

 The tardiness and apparent difficulty in rising from the 

 ground which these birds exhibit is well expressed in their 

 Spanish name Avetarda* and is recognized in their scien- 

 tific cognomen of Otis tarda. Once on the wing, the whole 

 pack is off, with wide swinging flight, to the highest ground 

 in the neighbourhood. 



During the greater part of the year the bustards are far 

 too wary to be obtained by the farm-hands and shepherds 

 who see them every day ; and so accustomed are the peasants 

 to the sight of these noble birds that little or no notice is 

 taken of them. Their haunts and habits not being studied, 

 their pursuit is regarded as impracticable. There is, 

 however, one period of the year M'hen the Great Bustard 

 falls an easy prey to the clumsiest of gunners. During 

 the long Andalucian summer a torrid sun has drunk up 

 every brook and stream that crosses the cultivated lands : 



* Avetarila is old Spanish, the modern spellin,;;^ beinp; Abutarda. 



