GREAT BUSTARD. 158 
Famity OTIDIDA. 
GREAT BUSTARD. 
Otis TARDA. 
Pl. XXXVI, fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr.—Central and §. Europe, and eastward as far as 
Dauria: formerly tolerably common and resident in the British Isles; 
now almost extinct. 
Food.—Seeds, corn, tender shoots, vegetable produce, pods of wild 
plants, insects, reptiles, &c. 
Nest.—A mere depression in the soil, scantily lined with grass. 
Position of nest.—Usually in a grain field: the eggs laid on the 
bare soil. 
Number of eggs.—2-3; generally 2. 
Time of nidification.—V; end of the month. 
Although this species appears to have wholly ceased to 
breed with us since a time somewhere between 1830 and 
1840, it has subsequently visited our islands from time 
to time; thus between the autumn of 1870 and the 
spring of 1871 more than a dozen Bustards, driven from 
the Continent by the unusually severe weather, are said to 
have visited Great Britain. It can, however, now be 
only regarded as an occasional straggler to our shores, and 
there is little hope that it will ever again remain to breed. 
The question as to whether the great Bustard is poly- 
gamous or monogamous has yet to be definitely settled. 
Mr. Seebohm thus describes the finding of its eggs on the 
Wallachian Steppes :—‘‘ Although the Bustard is so wary, 
he often permits of the near approach of a waggon if the 
driver is concealed ; and we soon had the pleasure of seeing 
a female Great Bustard rise from the grass, and, after a 
slight struggle, take wing and fly slowly away. We ran to 
the spot whence she rose, and were delighted to find two 
eggs on a piece of bare earth trodden down into the 
semblance of a hollow. There was no nest, and scarcely 
any cover; the grass was thin, and only here and there 
were weeds high enough to shield the sitting bird from 
view in certain directions. Whilst we were feasting our 
eyes on the eggs, she came round again, but, after one 
turn, flew right away, with slow, heavy flap of wing, not 
unlike a heron.” —(Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. ii., p. 584.) 
