THE GAME BIRDS 01 INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 319 



on success when I blundered on a hen Bustard that was squatted 

 in some Ber-bushes not twenty yards from me. Of course, off she 

 went followed by the rest of the flock which I did not again see 

 that day. Two other stalks proved failures. In the first I could 

 not get within 300 yards of my birds, and in the second I could 

 only get just within that distance and a shot, though it raked 

 the feathers off the back of what seemed the largest cock, did no 

 real harm. 



" The following year I was again in the same place in February 

 and managed to bag 5 fine cocks in one day, though I must confess 

 that one bird was a fluke. I had had the usual painful crawl 

 after a flock and eventually got to within sixty yards of the nearest 

 bird which I shot through the body and then, to my delight saw 

 another bird, not by any means in a direct line with it, and some 

 four or five paces distant, fall struggling to the ground. "When I 

 went up to them the first bird was dead but the second was — as I 

 afterwards found — only shot through the shoulder of the wino-, 

 quite incapacitated from flying but, as I feared, fully able to 

 escape my running. Running away, however, was one of the last 

 things it appeared to think of, and when I came close up to it, it 

 assumed a most truculent air and actually advanced beating its 

 unwounded wing noisily up and down uttering its deep cry at 

 quick intervals. There was no stick within miles of me so faute 

 cle mieux I was obliged to put another shot into it." 



" On the same day I had another most uniTSiTal bit of luck, 

 getting again two birds ont of one flock. I had had my first shot 

 and dropped my bird at about 100 yards distance when the others, 

 instead of at once taking to flight, actually paused long enough for 

 me to get a second successful shot. My fifth bird was got in the 

 middle of the day as we were returning to our starting point for we 

 came suddenly on it over the crest of a hill, and as its back was 

 towards us I was enabled to drop down and crawl up the hill and 

 then kill it with an eas}' shot at less than forty yards." 



It is probable that this Bustard is not as common now as it 



used to be some 50 years ago when Jerdon wrote his " Birds of 



India " for I doubt if it would be possible for any sportsman to 



emulate the gentleman mentioned therein who " killed above one 



3 



