36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HL8T. SOCLETY, Vol XXL 



The eggs are generally laid in May, the time merely varying 

 according to the latitude. In its more Northern habitat no eggs 

 will be found until well on into May, whilst many may be taken in 

 Jime, on the other hand, in Northern Africa, South Russia and 

 Asia Minor it is said sometimes to lay in the end of April, and 

 eggs have been taken in North Africa as early as the first week of 

 that month. 



The normal clutch of eggs is generally said to be two and occa- 

 sionally but one e.gg is incubated. On the other hand, three eggs 

 are sometimes laid in a clutch, although this would seem to be 

 rather rare and four and even five eggs have been taken from the 

 same nest. There are two clutches in the British Museum, both 

 in the Seebohm Collection, which contains three eggs, one taken at 

 Halberstadt, Germany, on the 22nd May, and the other at Choousk- 

 Keui, Asia Minor, on the 11th May. 



Both Col. Verner and Col. Irby, however, consider 3 or 4 the 

 normal clutch. The former says : — "It is well known to all inter- 

 ested in bird-life that when once a ' fact ' regarding natural history 

 has been duly recorded, it takes a long time to disprove i,t, succes- 

 sive authorities being content to quote from one another without 

 seeking for further information. Among such is the generally 

 accepted statement regarding the number of eggs laid by the 

 Great Bustard which has been recorded as two from time imme- 

 morial, with the explanation that when four eggs are found in a 

 nest ' no doubt two females have laid in it '. In consequence when 

 I first saw a nest with four eggs I duly noted the fact and 

 entered the usual stock explanation in my diary. By good chance 

 my notes some years later were read by the late Lord Lilford, 

 undoubtedly one of the best authorities on the birds of the Spanish 

 Peninsular, who very kindly pencilled across the page : ' The 

 Great Bustard often lays four and rarely five eggs. L.' " 



" Some 3^ears later I met with a second nest with foiir eggs as 

 recorded by Colonel Irby." 



" After Col. Irby's book appeared, I on several occasions found 

 Bustards' nests with three eggs, not four, sometimes considerably 

 incubated biit it was not until last year that after a long interval 

 I chanced to be among the Bustards at the right time. In May, 



