316 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



"In April, 1902, I had the good fortune to be stationed at 



an ideal place for Bustai^d in eveiy way. Birds were 



remarkably plentiful, and though the ground was mostly very bare, 

 it was rolling and even hilly in places, so that by taking advantage 

 of the rises and dips and by making use of the tufts of grass, an 

 odd Ber-bush or so, or of stones and rocks larger than usual, one 

 could often carry out a genuine and successful stalk." 



" Starting early in the morning, indeed, almost before 

 it was light, I was soon on mj shooting ground, but even 

 at that time the heat was intense and already there was 

 that shimmer in the atmosphere which foretold of the greater heat 

 to come. Ikying flat on the top of a stonj^ ridge, the highest point 

 in the neighbourhood, I brought my binoculars to bear on the 

 various points of the horizon and was rewarded by seeing no less 

 than three lots of Bustard, one consisting of eight birds, one of 

 four and a third of two grand old cock birds. The fewer eyes to 

 watch me, the greater the chance of getting close, so I decided to 

 first try for these last two birds. They were a long way off, nearly 

 a mile, so that for the first few hundred yards no very great 

 precaution was necessary ; moreover there was a crack in the 

 ground — one could hardly call it a water-course — which led in the 

 rioiit direction for my stalk and by stooping low I could make use 

 of this for a good quarter of a mile without much chance of being 

 seen. Before making a start I located the birds as being about half- 

 way between two stunted Ber-bushes about a hundred yards apart, 

 and as these bushes were some two or three feet higher than the 

 heads of the Bustard, they served as admirable marks which I could 

 keep in view without the risk of trying to see the Bustard them- 

 selves. Down the watei'-course I went with success until I arrived 

 at a place where it was too shallow to allow of my going any 

 further except on all fours. Here, I wanted a further look for my 

 game, so getting behind a tuft of grass, I gradually raised my head 



covered with a helmet of the same colour as the stones which lay 



scattered in every direction — until I could peer between the 

 withered stems. Both birds were still in the same place and were 

 engaged in the most curious antics, bowing and scraping to one 

 another, although there were no hens visible within miles of them. 



