320 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXL 



thousand Bustards with his rifle." At the same time we must 

 remember that those were the days when tigers averaged 12 feet 

 and it was a poor shot who could not get his brace or two before 

 cliota hazri. 



Its area of habitat as given by Jerdon is much the same now 

 as it was then and such notes as I have had sent me shew that 

 their numbers have not much changed in any particular place 

 during the last 25 years. Thus in 1879 Hume quotes Mr. G, 

 Vidal as saying " This species is found very sparingly in the 

 Eastern districts of the Poona and Satara Zillas." He then goes 

 on to say that he only saw three specimens in five years in Satara, 

 but that in Poona there are two or three places where they may 

 be found yearly. After this Hume quotes Davidson as reporting 

 it to be becoming yearly rarer in these parts. So that having been 

 so scarce 32 years ago we should now expect it to be exterminated 

 yet Lieut. E. G. Phythian AdamS; of the 80th Infantry, writing in 

 May 1910, informs me he knows " of its existence in the following 

 districts : Satara, Poona, Sholapur, where it is uncommon," 



Col. L. L. Fenton, I should note, says that " some thirty years 

 ago Bustard were fairly common in the Sholapur District where 

 they used to breed. I have also shot them in the Rabinnur 

 Taluka of the Dharwar District. A few, I also came across in 

 the Naladgi, now Bijapur District." 



Mr. J. E. James reported it as common in Hume's time in 

 Khandeish and Nasik and all my correspondents in that part of 

 India say that it is so still. 



From the Deccan reports are conflicting, but my correspondents 

 who have gone most carefully into the matter tell me that the 

 number of birds differ greatly in difierent years and one writer 

 adds that it is quite possible for a sportsman who does not know 

 the district to be there a year and leave with the impression that 

 the Bustard is but a rare straggler therein, whereas the man who 

 has lived some years in the Deccan and knows exactly when and 

 where to look for these grand birds may consider them almost 

 common. 



On the whole, therefore, we may hope that our finest Indian 

 Game bird is not on its way to extinction and that its wariness 



