INDIAN BUSTARD. 121 



great way off: The female lays one or two eggs of a dark olive 

 green, faintly blotched with dusky. I have killed the young, half- 

 grown, in March, near Saugor. 



The Bustard has another call heard not unfrequently, compared 

 by some to a bark or a bellow ; chiefly heard, however, when the 

 bird is alarmed. This is compared by the natives to the word 

 hook, hence the name of hookna, by which it is known to 

 the villagers about Gwalior. When raised, it generally takes 

 a long flight, sometimes three or four miles, with a steady, con- 

 tinued flapping of its wings, at no great height above the ground, 

 and I never found that it had any difficulty in rising, not even 

 requiring to run one step, as I have many times had occasion to 

 observe when flushing them in long grass or wheat fields. On 

 the open bare plains, it will sometimes run a step or two before 

 mounting into the air. A writer in the Bengal Sporting Magazine 

 asserts that he has known the Bustard ridden down, and that 

 after two or three flights it is so exhausted as to allow of its 

 capture. I imagine that a healthy bird would tire out the best 

 horse and rider before giving in. 



At times a single Cock-bustard can be very easily stalked so as 

 to get within distance of a fair shot, 50 or 60 yards, or even nearer, 

 by rapidly moving obliquely towards them, as mentioned previously 

 when speaking of Sand-grouse ; when several are together they 

 are more wary, but even then can often be approached within one 

 hundred yards. If there is any bushy or uneven ground to favor 

 the gunner, the task is comparatively easy. Occasionally they 

 may be flushed in long grass, or Dhal fields, or even Wheat fields, 

 and an easy shot obtained ; and I once brought down two birds, 

 right and left, in a wheat-field near Saugor. 



Many sportsmen kill it with the rifle, and one sportsman on 

 the Bombay side is known to have killed above one thousand 

 Bustards with his rifle; chiefly, I believe, in the Deccan and 

 Southern Mahratta country. A young Bustard, or a full grown 

 hen bird are very excellent eating ; the flesh is dark, and very 

 highly flavored; but in an adult cock it is rather coarse. 



A large Bustard has been seen in various parts of China which 

 is perhaps this species, or some closely allied one, may-be, Otis 



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