583 BRITISH BIRDS. 



to be that of Montagu (Orn. Diet. 3iid ed. p. 63), who was informed in 

 1813 by the shepherds of Salisbury Plain that these noble birds had not 

 been seen for the last two or three years in their favourite haunts. Since 

 1845 the Great Bustard must be regarded as an accidental straggler in 

 winter to our islands. For the first quarter of a century the occurrences 

 of this bird did not average one every year, most of them being in the 

 old breeding-grounds, but others in less suitable localities, as Cornwall, 

 Devonshire, and Northumberland. During the winter of 1870-71 more 

 than a dozen Great Bustards occurred in this country : one was seen 

 in September by Mr. Harting, near Wells ; seven were seen in North 

 Devon, three of which were obtained, in December ; one was shot in 

 Middlesex in January ; and another, in the same month, on the coast of 

 Northumberland ; whilst three others were seen on Salisbury Plain, one 

 of which was shot ('Zoologist,^ 1871, p. 2472). During the next eight 

 years three or four Bustards were seen in their old quarters, and one was 

 shot as far north as the Orkney Islands ; but in the winter of 1879-80 a 

 second important migration of Bustards to this country took place. 

 Examples are recorded from Jersey, Cornwall, Dorset, Cambridge, and 

 Essex, and three from Kent. A similar migration of Great Bustards also 

 occurred in France during the same year (Harting, 'Zoologist,^ 1880, 

 p. 253). During the last four years there is no record of the Great 

 Bustard having visited this country. There does not appear to be any 

 authentic evidence that it has ever visited Ireland. 



The Great Bustard, where it has not been exterminated, breeds on all 

 the steppes and large open plains throughout the southern portion of the 

 Palsearctic Region, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is not quite extinct 

 in Denmark ; but is no longer found in Scandinavia, though it was formerly 

 a summer visitor in the extreme south of Sweden. In Russia its range 

 does not extend further north than Moscow or Kazan ; and in Siberia 

 than Omsk and the valley of the Amoor. It breeds in Mantchooria ; but 

 is probably only a winter visitor to Japan and North China, where it occurs 

 as far south as the valley of the Yangtsze. South of the limits already 

 mentioned it is still found in suitable localities throughout Europe, being 

 especially common in some parts of Spain. It is found on the plains of 

 Northern and Central Germany, Italy, the steppes of the Danube, South 

 Russia, Turkey, and eastwards into Palestine and throughout Turkestan. 

 It was formerly common in France, Greece, and North-west Africa, but 

 is now very rare, and only known as an accidental visitor, principally in 

 winter, to the latter country, as it also is to Asia Minor and North Persia 

 whilst it has even strayed as far as North-west India. 



Examples from Eastern Siberia have been described as distinct under 

 the name of O. dybowskii, the characters relied upon being the somewhat 

 smaller size, slightly longer and more slender bill, paler head, and the fact 



