100 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family OTIDID.^. Genus Otis. 



GREAT BUSTARD. 



OTIS T ABJ) A. —Linnce us. 



Plate XV. 



Otis tarda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 264 (1766) ; Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 30 (1852) ; Dresser, 

 B. Eur. vii. p. 369, pi. 508 (1872) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4 iii. p. 193 (1884) ; Seebohm, 

 Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 581 (1884) ; Lilford, Col. Pig. Brit. B. pt. xxi. (1892) ; Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs non-indig. Brit. B. p. 216 (1894) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. 

 p. 284 (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Eig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 88, pi. 23 (1896) ; Sharpe, Handb. 

 B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 116 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British: The Great Bustard was for- 

 merly a local resident in Great Britain confined to the steppe or down districts : 

 the Merse of Berwickshire, the wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, the warrens 

 and heaths of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and the downs of Dorset, 

 Wilts, Hants, and Sussex. For half a century or more it has ceased to breed in 

 this country, and can now only be classed as an irregular winter visitor. It is 

 not known to have visited Ireland. This magnificent bird, although for years 

 gradually dwindling in numbers, managed to retain its place as an indigenous 

 species to the British Islands until the earlier portion of the present century, 

 disappearing at varying times from certain haunts : thus, from Wiltshire, about 

 1810; Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, about 1826; Suffolk, 1832; Norfolk, about 

 1838. Their extinction must be attributed to a variety of causes. Of these, 

 probably one of the most important, was the rapid increase of plantations, which 

 covered the birds' steppe-like haunts with a series of ambuscades; and another, 

 the introduction of improved machinery in farming, especially for tilling the open 

 corn lands on which the birds delighted to nest, and the use of which led to the 

 wholesale destruction of its eggs. This species is now but an abnormal migrant 

 to our shores, although we believe there has lately been some steps taken to 

 introduce the bird on the Yorkshire moors — an experiment scarcely likely to 

 succeed. As previously stated the Great Bustard is an irregular visitor to 

 our islands, occurring at intervals in unusual numbers. Such invasions were 

 remarked in the winters of 1870-71, in 1879-80, and again in 1890-91. During 

 the latter winter uo less than seven of these birds— all females— were recorded 

 from various parts of the South of England. (Conf. Field, 28tli February, 1891.) 

 Foreign : South Palsearctic region from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It breeds in 

 suitable districts in Denmark, Eussia (south of lat. 55°), Germany, Italy, Spain, 

 the steppes of the Danube, and Turkey. It is now very rare in France, Greece, 



