The Great Bustard.



261



THE GREAT BUSTARD.


By A. Trevor-Battye. M.A.


At the Editor’s request for something' about the Great

Bustard (Otis tarda) I gladly offer this little general account. (I

remember that the practical side has already been covered in the

Magazine, notably by letters from Mr. St. Quintin). One of the

pictures which these remarks accompany will be interesting to

those who have not had an opportunity of seeing a bird of this

species on the nest. Mr. Hubert Astley took the photograph in

an enclosed orchard at Benham Valence. This individual was a

Spanish bird ; she came from a nest on, I think, the Isla Major below

Coria del Rio on the Guadalquivir, and was brought up, with others

that reached me at the same time, in a little back yard of a cottage

in that village.


The other photograph shows the astonishing transformation

of a male Great Bustard during ‘display.’ This bird was also for

two years in my garden ; he was photographed by Mr. St. Quintin.' 1 '


The Great Bustard is found from “ Spain to Mesopotamia ”

(Newton), but its principal centres in Europe are, I think, the

Crimea, Turkey, and the Danubian Provinces. It is a bird of ex¬

tremely powerful flight, although the slow movement of its wings is

deceptive and gives no idea whatever of its swift progression, mis¬

leading at first even a practised partridge-driving' shot.


In Andalucia, the Great Bustard is shot by the following

method. Late in February or early in March, when the birds are in

the waving green corn, guns and drivers start out on horses. On

Bustards being sighted perhaps a long' way off — for males when in full

display are as conspicuous as marble monuments — the horses string'

out, a driver keeping with each gun. When the direction of the wind

and the lie of the ground have determined the line of ambush, each

gun in turn slips off his horse (on the side away from the Bustards)

and drops into the corn or other cover. His companion leads along

the horse, and the Bustards, who keep their gaze on the moving'

horses, do not notice the ruse. When all the guns are favourably

placed, the drivers ride out and round so as to get behind the birds.



[* Did Mr. St. Quinton photograph a lady’s hat by mistake?]



