1154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



near them. I am sorry I cannot send a whole skin as the man hallaled 

 them very badly. 



In North China I once saw a large number of both the Great Indian and 

 European Bustard on the same ground, and it was very interesting to note 

 the difference between them ; the Great Indian Bustard were always scat- 

 tered when feeding, and rose and flew independently like Houbara, but 

 the European ones did not separate so much when on the ground, and rose 

 and flew together more like geese, although, of course, not in V formation. 

 This habit of the Great Indian Bustard of feeding apart can often be 

 turned to good account when stalking them if riding on a camel you 

 disturb one of the outside birds, so that it does not fly very far. Then 

 you lie down in a direct line between the solitary bird and the rest of the 

 flock and send your camel round to disturb the latter who will nearly 

 always fly to join their companion and often give an easy shot, as they do 

 not fly high. 



It was very cold in the north of India about Christmas, the thermometer 

 falling to within -| a degree of the record which accounts for their presence 

 here, and also for some Mute and Bewicke Swans which were shot on the 

 Kabul river near here last week. 



We do a great deal of hawking here specially Houbara, and it is the 

 greatest ambition to kill an European Bustard with a Saker Falcon, but 

 up to now no flight has been obtained after them. 



I see from Hume and Marshal that it is just 40 years since an European 

 Bustard was killed in India, and that one was then shot at the same place 

 as these were. It is very doubtful if they will ever be seen here again, 

 as most of the ground will in a few years be under cultivation by means 

 of the Malakand canal. Both the birds killed were females and weighed 

 9f lbs. each. 



Risalpur, 9th January 1911. H. FOOKS, Lietjt.-Col., I.M.S. 



No. XIV.— LITTLE BUSTARD (OTIS TETRAX) IN KASHMIR. 



I am sending you by Post a skin of what I believe to be the Otis tetra.v 

 or Lesser Bustard. This is the second of these birds, which has been shot 

 in Kashmir during the last 12 months. This one was shot by Major Smith 

 near the Woolar Lake. 



Srinagar, \<oth November 1910. F. J. MITCHELL. 



[In Volume XVII, p. 945, Col. A. E Ward recorded a Little Bustard which 

 was obtained near Hajan, Kashmir, in December 1906. — Eds.] 



No. XV.— WEIGHTS OF NILGIRI WOODCOCK. 

 [ notice in an article under the heading " Woodcock Shooting in the 

 Nilgiris " in Vol. XX, No. 3, page 854, that it is stated that the heaviest 

 bird known to have been killed on the Nilgiris turned the scale at 14f 



