Some Great Bustards.



185



Time went on and we heard no more. But in the spring

of 1907 I happened to meet Vicente, in Seville, and he told me he

had two hens read}'-, which he had reared by hand. This good

news made me look with still greater interest not only on the

wild birds on the cornlands, but also on a fine lot that walked

about a beautiful garden in Jerez de la Frontera. They came to the

steps every morning to feed from a lady’s hand, and were quite

indifferent to the presence of the two great Spanish mastiffs and

the terrier that shared their food. They belonged to Mr. Walter

J. Buck, well known as one of the authors of that delightful

book Wild Spain.



A.



BUSTARDS’



HOUSE.



B.



BUSTARDS’



LOOK-OUT POINT.



C.



ENTRANCE



GATE.



D.



SECONDARY



BANK.



E.



FOOD HOUSE.



Soon after my return home I received a letter from Mr.

Buck saying that he was sending with Saccone’s hens the finest

male bird from his own collection. My delight at this generous

present was however soon to be damped by a letter in which

Vicente said he was despatching the hens, but that the male was

so seriously ill that he was keeping him back.


The hens, two beautiful birds, duly arrived. One had been

hatched in 1904, the other in 1905. This bird was smaller

than the former and had a brown nape and top to her head, but

she lost these feathers at the next moult and assumed the

lavender head of adult life.* Some weeks went by and then the



* Mr. St. Quintiu informs me that a hen bird in his possession, nearly twelve years old,

has a “ rufous fawn nape and top to her head”



