XV AN UNCAGED ZOO 183- 



The great l)laek aud white hustaril [Enpodotis kori), 

 when disturbed, has a curious way of flying around in 

 concentric circles. When ahirmed l)ustards rise chinisily 

 on the wing and malie a wide circuit before aligliting, 

 but if followed up, the birds make a narrower circuit 

 and so on until thej' finally alight near tlie spot from 

 which they were originally disturbed. Taking advan- 

 tage of this fact, we were able, without much trouble, 

 to secure some of these large birds for our larder. 

 "When roasted the flesh of a bustard is as delectal.)le as 

 that of a turkev. These lar2;e birds weiirh more tha.n 

 twenty pounds, and examples have been recorded which 

 weighed twenty-five pounds. Such birds will have an 

 expanse of wing rrreasuring eight feet in width. There 

 is a smaller species of bustard which we obtained at 

 Njaro. 



I was very interested in the Inistard because two 

 species formerly lived in England. The ( Treat Bustard 

 {Otis troxia) onlv became extinct in Norfolk aliout 1838, 

 Tlie srrraller Ijustard (Otis teti-ax) occasionally straggles 

 to our shores. The museum at Salisbury contains two 

 stufl:ed specimens of the Great Bustard, said to Ije the 

 last examples of this bird shot on Salisbury Plain. 

 When the gizzards were opened they contained, among 

 other stones, some flint arrow heads. 



I have seen the Great Bustard stalking about the 

 fields in the south-west of Spain, near Utrcra. These 

 liirds eat berries, seed, larvfe, molluscs, frogs, young 

 corn, and juicy plants. A live frog swallowed liy a 

 bustard must have an uncomfortable time amor)g the 

 stones in this bird's gizzard. Imagine the agony of 

 being slowly ground to death in a gizzard-mill. 



The Bee-eaters, with their wonderful coloration, 

 graceful f(n'ms, and activity, could not fail to attract 

 the attention of the least observant. It was delightful 

 to watch one sitting on the twigs of a leafless tree, and 

 then see it suddenly dart in the air and snap an insect 

 on the wing, like a flycatcher, and return to the bush 



