GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 107 



Habits. — The present species is another bird of the wide 



vast plains, and resembles in its habits the preceding species. 



But little is known of the economy of Macqueen's Bustard during 



its residence in Turkestan and Siberia, whither it retires in 



summer to breed, but its habits have been carefully studied 



during its sojourn in India, where it is a common bird during the 



cold season, arriving in September, and leaving in March or 



April. Here it frequents by preference the slightly undulating 



sandy and semi-desert plains, which are studded with patches of 



scrub, amongst which salsolas, lemon-grass, and acacia bushes are 



conspicuous. On these vast plains this Bustard may be observed 



running about in the morning and evening, resting under the 



shelter of a bush during the hottest part of the day. It always 



prefers to run rather than to fly, and is capable of threading its 



way through the tangled scrub with great speed. Where the 



cover is short it runs with head and neck held low, but when it 



reaches the higher bushes it stops and stretches out its neck to 



look round at its pursuers. Sometimes the bird will then squat 



close to the ground and remain motionless, where its brown 



plumage so effectually conceals it from detection that it allows 



the observer to pass and repass within a very few paces without 



making a movement. Macqueen's Bustard is often stalked with 



the aid of a camel, that animal being so familiar to the bird that 



it takes but little notice of its approach. By riding round the 



Bustards in ever narrowing circles the hunter is enabled to get 



within shot. Sometimes the birds squat to the ground, and 



remain so until the camel walks almost over them, when they 



rise in a slow, heavy manner, and afford an easy shot. Sometimes 



a Bustard, instead of squatting, will hide behind a bush and walk 



round and round as the hunter does, always contriving to keep 



the bush between itself and the enemy. Macqueen's Bustard is 



said to be a very silent species ; and Hume never heard it utter 



a sound under any circumstances whatever. The food of this 



species is almost entirely of a vegetable character, and Hume 



states that of hundreds he examined lizards or snakes were never 



found in its stomach. In India it feeds largely on the fruit of the 



ber, the berries of the grewia, and the tender shoots of the 



