ii8 allen’s naturalist’s library. 
Lincolnshire, and the downs of Sussex, while the first ten years 
of this century saw the exlinction of the birds indigenous to 
Salisbury Plain. On the eastern wolds of Yorkshire the sur- 
vivor of former droves was trapped in 1832-33; and in Nor- 
folk and Suffolk the last fertile eggs were taken about 1838, 
though a few birds lingered to a somewhat later date.” Such 
is the epitome of the history of the extinction of this interest- 
ing bird, and now only an occasional visitor comes over to 
Britain, though sometimes several individuals are noticed, as 
was the case in 1870-71, when it is supposed that the Franco- 
German War and the consequent cannonading drove the birds 
from their usually quiet haunts. Again an influx took place in 
1879-80, when the species invaded Central and Northern France. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The Great Bustard is now 
rare in Denmark and Southern Sweden, where it used to 
breed, but is at present confined to Central and Southern 
Europe, being found in Hungary, certain parts of Germany 
and Poland, while it is by no means a rare bird in Spain. 
Eastwards it extends to Turkestan and Northern Afghanistan, 
and it occasionally wanders into the extreme north-west of 
the Indian Peninsula. In Siberia and China, 0 . tarda is re- 
placed by O. dyboivskii. 
Habits. — When I was in Hungary, I was very anxious to see 
the Great Bustard, but, though wo passed through country in- 
habited by the birds, I was told that they were then difficult to 
observe, as they hid themselves in the fields of waving corn 
and were not to be seen flying. As this was in May, when 
Mr. Howard Saunders says that they moult their quills and 
are unable to fly, there is little wonder that I did not suc- 
ceed in seeing one on the wing. 
The food of the Great Bustard consists, besides occasional 
worms, lizards, and small rodents, of green food, such as corn 
and peas, and Dr. Aitchison records his finding in the crop of 
an old male bird shot in Northern Afghanistan a ball of grass, 
while the odour of the bird was such that it was with great 
difficulty he could be prevailed upon to preserve it. The flesh 
of the females and young birds is, however, highly esteemed. 
The males make a great show in the breeding-season, and 
fight for the possession of the hens. A cock Bustard, at all 
