2512 The Zoologist — March, 1871. 



Monday last. I see, in 'Devizes Gazette,' that one has been 

 killed about five miles away by a gentleman who was more 

 fortunate than myself.— -F. Slrailon ; Gore Farm, Lavingion, 

 Devizes. — Id. 



[Both these records, as well as a third somewhat obscurely worded, and 

 caUiug the bird a " little bustard," appear to relate to the first specimen 

 recorded by Mr. Blackmore (S. S. 2477).— JE. Newman.'] 



Coursing Bustards with Greijhounds. — It will be recollected by 

 some of my readers that, in the 'Zoologist' for January last, 

 I somewhat ridiculed the idea of coursing bustards, treating dear 

 old Bewick's engraving as the mere embodiment of a fiction : the 

 following note from the pen of Mr. Dresser, which appears in this 

 day's ' Field,' will show how dangerous it is to doubt theories 

 merely because we cannot corroborate them by our own observa- 

 tion. — E. Newman; February 18, 1871. 



" When last in Russia I travelled with a Cossack oflScer from 

 the Volga, who, I soon ascertained, was an ardent sportsman, and, 

 as may easily be imagined, we soon began to discuss all sorts of 

 sport. One day, after some talk, I asked him if many bustards 

 were found in his part of the country, to which he replied that 

 plenty of the great bustard were found on the low plains, and 

 afiforded excellent sport. Speaking of the modes of capture, he 

 said, 'Have you. ever seen bustards run down with dogs?' I re- 

 plied that I did not believe it possible, as the bustard, like a wise 

 bird, would immediately take to wing, and laugh at the dogs. 

 'But,' said he, 'we sometimes do capture them thus, and I will tell 

 you how. At certain seasons of the year we have heavy wet fogs 

 morning and evening, and severe frosts during the night. The 

 bustards get their plumage clogged with wet, and at early dawn it 

 is frozen hard, thus preventing the bird from fl\ing. This being 

 the case, we start out very early in the morning, and run the birds 

 down before the thaw comes.' I tell this tale as it was told to me, 

 but must say that I have good reason to believe it, and give it to 

 your readers, in hopes that it may to some extent explain matters. 

 Of course in sunny Spain or England this mode of capture would 

 not be lieasible now ; but when we recollect how much severer the 

 frosts were in the days of our ancestors, it may be possible that, 

 after a frosty night following a damp Scotch mist, some of these 



