The Great Bustard 



M5 



whereabouts of the game. He, too, has seen us, and is even now 

 considering whether there be suthcient cause for setting his 

 convoy in motion. If we disappear below the level of his range, 

 he will settle the point negatively, setting us down as merely 

 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 bustard about sunset, all busy w^itli their evening feed 

 among the grasshoppers on a thistle-clad plain. They are working 

 against time, for it will soon be too dark to catch such lively 





THE GREAT BUSTARD 



prey. With quick darting step they run to and fro, jdcking up 

 one grasshopper after another with unerring aim, and so intent on 

 pursuit that the best chance of the day is then offered to a gunner, 

 when greed for a moment supplants caution and vigilance is 

 relaxed. But even now a man on foot stands no chance of coming 

 anywhere near them. His approach is observed from afar, all 

 heads are up above the thistles, every eye intent on the intruder ; 

 a moment or two of doubt, two quick steps and a spring, and 

 the broad wings of every bird in the pack flap in slowly rising 

 motion. The tardiness and apparent difficulty in rising from 

 the ground which bustards exhibit is well expressed in theii- 

 Spanish name Avetarda^ and recognised in the scientific cognomen 



Avctarda is old Spauisli, the modern spelling being Abutardu. 



