GREAT BUSTARD. 583 



that the lesser wing-coverts are grey like the greater and median wing- 

 coverts, instead of being mottled with brownish buff and black like the 

 back. Dybowsky states that he has obtained both old and young from 

 Dauria. If this species really be distinct, it is probably the form which 

 also occurs in China and Japan. The only male example which I have 

 seen from these localities is one obtained by Mr. Ringer at Nagasaki, 

 which agrees with Taczanowsky's description. On the other hand, VAbbe 

 David states that the Bustard of China does not differ in any respect from 

 Eui'opean examples. Further research appears to be necessary before we 

 can state positively that the eastern form of the Great Bustard differs from 

 the western form, and that the examples hitherto obtained in the east are 

 fully adult. 



In the extreme northern portions of its range the Great Bustard is a 

 migratory bird ; but even in Germany it is a resident. These birds collect 

 into large flocks during winter, which often wander a great distance from 

 their breeding-grounds in search of food. In South Siberia it is only 

 known in summer, although it is said to arrive at its breeding- quarters as 

 early as March. In the Caucasus and Turkestan it might be described as 

 a partial resident, breeding in the steppes from 5000 to 10,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea, and descending in flocks to winter in the plains. 



To study the habits of the Great Bustard it is now, unfortunately, neces- 

 sary to visit the continent. This noble bird is par excellence the bird of 

 the steppes. The continent of Asia, of which civilized Europe is only a 

 peninsula, consists of a central group of mountains of enormous altitude, 

 not inaptly called in many atlases " the roof of the world,'' flanked in 

 various directions with outlying spurs, which stretch almost uninter- 

 ruptedly from the Bay of Biscay to the Sea of Japan. These mountains 

 are clothed almost up to the limit of perpetual snow with pine- and birch- 

 forests, which extend northwards far beyond the Arctic circle. Between 

 many of these ranges lie extensive plains of fertile country, destitute of 

 trees, where the deep rich soil produces endless varieties of brilliant 

 flowers and delicate grasses, where these have not been partially removed 

 to make way for the cultivation of wheat, rye, and other crops. These 

 plains, which in America are called prairies, in Asia are called steppes. 

 The most important of these steppes extends from Bukharest to Tomsk, a 

 distance of about three thousand miles. This is the great breeding-ground 

 of the Great and Little Bustards, the home of the Wallack, the Kalmuck, 

 and the Kirghiz, and the paradise of sheep, cows, and horses. Hay and 

 corn are so cheap that, in travelling for a thousand miles over the snow 

 across the Barabinski steppe, watered by the tributaries of the Obb, I only 

 paid for the hire of my horses a halfpenny a horse a mile. The steppes 

 exactly suit the requirements of the Bustard — abundance of food and 

 absence of cover. So large a bird, standing from three to almost four 



