1880.] SIR W. ELLTOT ON THE INDIAN BUSTARD. 487 



Whilst so engaged I heard the same sounds coming from another 

 cock at a greater distance and many birds (generally so solitary and 

 living so far apart) were seen on the wing ; and afterwards T often heard 

 the call at the same season, about the beginning of the cold weather 

 (October to December). 



On one occasion, somewhat later, in a different part of the country, 

 south of the Kistna, in the month of February, I raised a hen sitting 

 on her nest, which was a -very simple affair, consisting of a little dry 

 grass lying on the ground among some low bushes ; in it were 

 two eggs which I carried away and brought home in 1834. They 

 met with rough usage during my second absence in India : one was 

 broken to pieces, and the other much damaged, but my daughter has 

 put it together and it is here on the table. These were of an olive- 

 green colour, spotted and blotched with brown. Probably the hen lays 

 more eggs, for I have seen three and even four well-grown young 

 birds feeding together in company with the old one. They shift 

 their ground according to the season, frequenting the high grassy 

 downs (or mdls) during the rainy and cold weather, then coming 

 down towards the cultivation, and in the dry season drawing towards 

 the neighbourhood of streams and rivers. Their food consists 

 of insects, berries, grain, &c. In the cold season the crops of 

 those I examined contained Grylli, beetles of all kinds (Cetonidte, 

 Elateridse, Buprestidae, Carabidse), frequently the spongy nidus 

 of the mantis, caterpillars, Julidae, Scolopendridse, &c., and on one 

 occasion I found an unbroken egg of a Quail {Coturnix textilis); with 

 these were seeds, berries of low-growing shrubs, stones and gravel. 

 On the cultivated land they devour quantities of the wild gourd (the 

 hunker of the natives), so abundant on the black cotton soil ; and 

 when the crops ripen they have recourse to the various kinds of 

 millet, bolting the whole head often entire, and to the many sorts of 

 pulse cultivated as a second crop. Thus it appears few things come 

 amiss to them. 



Their flight is slow, and heavy, with a regular motion of the wings. 

 When suddenly disturbed they utter a hoarse note, something hke 

 Icok kol; and fly far, but otherwise they are silent except at the breed- 

 ing-season. I have heard of instances in which they have been ridden 

 down by a well-mounted horseman where there was space enough'. 

 Falconers sometimes try to kill them with the Peregrine ; but I always 

 found tliat the Bhyree was no match for the Bustard, which lighted as 

 soon as the Falcon stooped and attacked it so courageously that it 

 would not repeat the assault. So rarely has the pursuit been suc- 

 cessful that the Nawab of Banganapihny in Cuddapah conferred a 

 village Inam (or free tenure) on a falconer who achieved the feat. 



These Bustards vary greatly in size, tlie hens weighing from 10 to 

 20 lbs., the cocks from 2.5 to 35 lbs. Col. Mansfield has got them as 

 high as 40 lbs. I examined the gular pouch of a cock which weighed 

 32 lbs. ; and, to gauge its capacity, secured it with a ligature at the 

 bottom and filled it with water from the gape by means of a common 



^ In the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine ' for 1 857 there is an account of this 

 having been accoinplisiied by a party of officers at Loodiauah. 



