Notices of Books. 9399 



observe when flushing them in long grass or wheat fields. On the 

 bare open plains it will sometimes run a step or two before mounting 

 into the air. A writer in the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine ' asserts that 

 he has known the bustard ridden down, and that after two or three 

 flights it is so exhausted as to allow of its capture. I imagine that a 

 healthy bird would tire out the best horse and rider before giving in. 

 At times a single cock-bustard can be very easily stalked so as to get 

 within distance of a fair shot, fifty or sixty yards, or even nearer, by 

 rapidly moving obliquely towards them ; when several are together 

 they are more wary, but even then can often be approached within one 

 hundred yards. If there is any bushy or uneven ground to favour the 

 gunner the task is comparatively easy. Occasionally they may be 

 flushed in long grass or dhal fields, or even wheat fields, and an easy 

 shot obtained ; and I once brought down two birds, right and left, in 

 a wheat field near Saugor. Many sportsmen kill it with the rifle, and 

 one sportsman on the Bombay side is known to have killed above one 

 thousand bustards with his rifle, chiefly, I believe, in the Deccan and 

 Southern Mahratta country. A young bustard or full-grown hen bird 

 are very excellent eating ; the flesh is dark and very highly flavoured, 

 but in an adult cock it is rather coarse." — P. 609. 



Were I to follow my own inclination I could prolong this notice 

 almost indefinitely, there is so much that tempts one onwards, so much 

 to read and so much to quote. Not only is there abundant matter for 

 notice in life -history, the highest branch of Ornithology, but even in 

 systematic arrangement; notwithstanding the self-imposed fetters of 

 method, there are good and genuine observations, well worth citing 

 and well worth considering ; in fact it is impossible to open these 

 volumes without finding instructive matter, and it is impossible to 

 close them without the conclusion that the author has well and nobly 

 completed his task. The number of species described is above one 

 thousand, or about double that of the avi-fauna of Europe ; and the 

 time occupied by the author in describing the whole was only two 

 years and one month, a fact that must ever hereafter stand as a proof 

 that energy, industry and perseverance are not incompatible with a 

 residence under the sultry suns of India, and even though accom- 

 panied, during a portion of the time, by severe indisposition. 



No very' precise idea is conveyed to my own mind, and I think most 

 of my readers will acknowledge to a similar feeling, by the title ' Birds 

 of India.' India, as defined either by political or physical boundaries, 

 presents as great contrast of climate as either of our continents ; we 

 ascend from the Hoogley to the Himalayas through every degree of 



