The Great Bustard 259 
later they would have averaged over 30 lbs., the increased weight 
being largely due to the abundant feed in spring, but possibly 
more to the solid distention of the neck.! 
This wet season (1908) the grass on the manchones, or 
fallows, was rank and luxuriant, nearly knee-deep in close vege- 
tation—more like April than January. Already these bustards 
were showing signs of the chestnut neck, and all had acquired 
their whiskers. The following winter (1909) was dry and not a 
scrap of vegetation on the fallows. Even in February they were 
absolutely naked and the cattle being fed on broken straw in the 
byres. 
The quill-feathers are pale-grey or ash-colour, only deepening 
into a darker shade towards the tips, and that only on the first 
two or three feathers. The shafts are white, secondaries black, 
and bastard-wing lavender-white, slightly tipped with a darker 
shade. 
In Wild Spain will be found described two methods by 
which the great bustard may be secured: (A) by a single gun 
riding quite alone; and (B) by two guns working jointly, one 
taking the chance of a drive, the other outmancuvring the 
game as in plan (A). We here add a third plan which has 
occasionally stood us (when alone) in good stead. 
On finding bustard on a suitable hill, leave your man to ride 
slowly to and fro attracting the attention of the game till you 
have had time, by hard running, to gain the reverse slope. ‘The 
attendant then rides forward, the whole operation being so 
punctually timed that you reach the crest of the ridge at the 
same moment as the walking bustards have arrived within shot 
thereof. Needless to add, this involves, besides hard work, a 
considerable degree of luck, yet on several occasions we have 
secured as many as four birds a day by this means. 
The great bustard, one imagines, has few enemies except 
man, but the following incident shows they are not entirely 
exempt from extraneous dangers. In October, some years ago, 
the writer purposed spending a couple of nights at a distant 
marsh in order to see whether any snipe had yet come in. Our 
course led us through good bustard-country, and by an early start 
1 We know of no other bird that increases thus in weight anticipatory of the breeding- 
season, nor are we at all sure that it is the swollen neck that explains that increase. 
Ss 
