44 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



that of a Partridge, though perhaps not so fast, and the bird is 

 said to get np Avith a good deal of fluster of wings but once 

 up to "get into its stride" and away at once. Others who 

 have pursued this Bustard in more open plains describe the bird as 

 shy and difficult to approach, rising far out of shot, but as being a 

 poor, weak flier with a "flip, flap sidelong action" looking as if 

 the bird could not make up its mind where to go. 



Colonel Willoughb}^ Verner in " Mj life among the Wild Birds 

 of Spain " says " Their flight is eff'ected by extremely rapid beats 

 of the wing, noticeable even at great distances, owing to the flash- 

 ing of the sunlight on the white portions. The noise produced by 

 their quick motion is one which once heard can never be forgotten 

 and can be likened to a quick sibilant sound of ' see-see-see-see " 

 suggestive of that produced by the steam of a raiiwaj^ engine as it 

 gathers waj^." 



Messrs. Chapman and Buck, in commenting on the impossibi- 

 lity of driving the Little Bustard, write " You cannot diagnose 

 beforehand his probable line of flight, for he has none, nor can 

 you influence its subsequent direction. For the little bustard 

 shuts off" all negotiation at its initiation by springing vertically in 

 air, soaring far above gunshot, and there indulging in fantas- 

 tic asrial evolutions more in the stj^le of a wigeon or other wild- 

 fowl than of a true game-bird as he is. Thus from that celestial 

 altitude he spies out the countr}^ and all terrestial dangers, finally 

 disappearing afar amidst the waste of atmospheric space. 

 Frequently we have noticed the high-flying band, after, saj^, twenty 

 minutes of such display- of wing-power, descend directly to their 

 original position at a safe interval after the drivers had passed 

 forward thereof ! ' ' 



Hume says that "At times, especially earl}- and late, they are 

 very wary, but at other times, chiefl}^ I think, when the sun is 

 high and hot, they will lie as close as a Button Quail." 



" They are often shot, bags of ten or a dozen couple having 

 been reported ; but it is chiefl}" as a quarrj^ for falcons that they are 

 esteemed, and in the neighbourhood of Mardan, hawking 

 with the Saker or Chargh Falcon used to be a standing 

 amusement. 



