Chapter XXV. 



BUSTARDS, RAILS, ETC. 



The world seems to have conceded the kingship of all 

 winged creatures to the eagle, but, so far as I know, there 

 has been no definite choice made as the monarch of game 

 birds. What shall we say of the bustard? At his very best 

 he stands from three to four feet in height, his outspread 

 wings may measure even up to six feet, and his weight to 

 thirty pounds! Surely those are pretty solid claims. As he 

 is graminivorous, living mainly like our own barn-door fowls, 

 and our common partridges and pheasants, upon grain and 

 vegetable diet, his flesh is comparable with theirs. Add to 

 all these attractions the fact that he is difficult of approach, 

 and what more could the sportsman require? One thing 

 more. That he should be plentiful, that there should be no 

 fear of extinction when man's hunting fever is on. Well, 

 that too, is granted, for of bustards the name is legion. They 

 pair off, or divide up into little parties of females each with 

 its lord and master for the breedi ng season, but they congregate 

 again during the winter months into parties running from a 

 half dozen or so to scores, or possibly hundreds. 



Like the curlew, the bustard is a bird of the wilderness. 

 He loves the open country. Whilst he was yet a denizen of 

 Great Britain, our broad open downs and fens were his 

 favourite haunts. Salisbury Plain was one of these. But 

 what with enclosures, with increased population, with more 

 deadly weapons, and other deterrents, the bustard has 

 forsaken its old British haunts, and if some dim stirring of 

 instinct were now to direct one to our shores, the chances 

 are that, instead of welcoming the long-lost friend, our insane 

 gunners and collectors would assemble in their hundreds 

 each intent on the acquisition of a dead trophy over which 

 he could gloat and about which he could boast. All the old 

 tricks for getting within gunshot would be tried, the farmer's 

 cart, the stalking horse or cow, and so on, for whilst the 

 bustard very rightly objects to the presence of man, he is 

 quite tolerant of what we call the lower animals. This 

 sometimes brings about his downfall even in China, for behind 

 the cover of a lumbering, nose-ring-directed buffalo it is 

 possible at times to get near enough for a shot. The bustard 



