8 THE GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD. 



This species is peculiar to India ; and, though at one time 

 Mr. Gray identified 0. luzoniensis, Vieill., founded on Sonnerat's 

 " Paon sauvage de Lucon," with our Indian bird, there is no 

 reason to suppose that any Bustard occurs in the Philippines, or 

 that O. luzoniensiS) Scopoli's cristata, is other than a South 

 African species. 



The Bustard is, of course, a bird of comparatively level and 

 open country, and throughout the provinces and states above 

 enumerated, it is only in such tracts that it is to be looked for. 

 In forest-clad or hilly regions, it is not met with. 



It is to a great extent migratory, spending one season of the 

 year in one part of the country, and moving to another to 

 breed. Thus, for instance, in what used to be called Bhattiana, 

 now the Sirsa district, it is extremely abundant during the 

 rainy season, when it breeds : whereas, during the cold season, 

 it is comparatively scarce. 



Although occasionally they may be surprised in a field of 

 standing giant or bulrush millet, and shot, as I have shot 

 them right and left, with quail shot, it is generally in compara- 

 tively bare plains or in fields in which the cover is barely above 

 their knees, that these Bustards are to be seen, and then 

 it takes a careful stalk to get within a hundred yards of them. 



In many parts of the country, the sportsman is quite content 

 if he gets within 150 yards, and at that distance, with an express 

 and rifle a front shot, there should be no difficulty in bringing 

 them to book. 



Jerdon gives a very good account of this species, chiefly com- 

 piled from various contributions to our Sporting Reviews. 

 He says : — ■ 



"The Bustard frequents bare open plains, grassy plains 

 interspersed with low bushes, and occasionally high grass 

 rumnahs. In the rainy season, large numbers may be seen toge- 

 ther stalking over the undulating plains of the Deccan or Central 

 India. I have seen flocks of twenty-five or more, and a 

 writer in the Sporting Review mentions having seen above 

 thirty on one small hill. 



" Towards the close of the rains, and in the cold weather 

 before the long grass is cut down, the Bustard will often be 

 found, at all events in the heat of the day, concealed in the 

 grass, but not for the purpose of eating the seeds of the Roussa 

 grass as the writer above alluded to imagines, rather for 

 the large grasshoppers that abound there, and fly against you at 

 every few steps you take. 



" During the cold weather the Bustard frequently feeds, and 

 rests during the day likewise, in wheat fields. When the grass and 

 corn are all cut, and the bare plains no longer afford food to the 

 Bustard, it will be found along the banks of rivers, where there is 

 long grass mixed with bushes, or the edges of large tanks, or low 



