THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 329 



but not many are to be found until very late in that month or 

 early in October, 



Their departure takes place in March and early April, though 

 Doig's men reported their still being in the Eastern Nara, Sind, in 

 May and June. Doig also adds that " a man voluntarily informed 

 me one day that he had seen the eggs of the Tilloor in the desert 

 at a place near where my man had seen the birds," 



Major A, R. Burton informs me that in the Zhob Valley and 

 the Loralai District they are found from September to March. 



This Bustard, like the others of the order, is more or less 

 gregarious, but never seems to collect in very large flocks. Hume 

 states that he has put up as many as twenty birds in a flock, but 

 most of my correspondents speak of seeing small flocks of three to 

 five or six and I have received no information of flocks as large as 

 that seen by Hume, Major Burton, in his letter above referred to, 

 says that the birds were fairly plentiful in the Zhob Valley, but 

 that he never put up more than eight birds in a flock. On the 

 other hand birds are found very often either in pairs or alone. 



Hume was very successful in shooting this Bustard and he 

 records, in " Game Birds," that in 1867 he killed no less than 

 83 birds, 4<7 cocks and 36 hens, in one week in November. He 

 writes in his usual interesting manner on the easiest way to obtain 

 this bird. He says : " The Houbara greatly prefers running to flying, 

 and when the weather is not too hot, will make its way through the 

 labyrinth of little bushes which constitute its home at a really sur- 

 prising pace. So long as the cover is low, its neck and body are 

 held as low as possible, but as soon as it gets where 

 it thinks it cannot be seen, it pulls up, and 

 raising its head as high as possible, takes a good look at its 

 pursuers. Not un frequently it then concludes to squat, 

 and though you may have been, unobserved, watching it carefully 

 whilst it was only watching others of the party coming from an 

 opposite direction, it becomes absolutely invisible the moment it 

 settles down at the foot of a bush or stone. Once it has thus 

 settled, especially if it is hot and about noon, you may walk 

 past it within ten yards without flushing it, if you walk carelessly 

 and keep looking in another direction. 



