dramatic flights characteristic of their congeners. More subtle pair enforce 
ment occurs: males have certainly been seen to bring food to females <pers. 
obs. and Goriup, pers. com.). The aerial displays of the remaining 
species reach their most complex form with the Buff-crested, although both 
Black-bellied and Hartlaub's (pers. obs.) perform beautiful parachute flig . 
If you are a small bustard and you live in long grass or bush the best way to 
advertise your presence is to fly up above the habitat. They may do this in 
response to females or to flights by neighbouring males. All the displays are 
subject to variation. Buff-crested, for example, don’t always culminate their 
flights in the tumbling fall to earth and may spend a lot of time hidden in 
the bush calling. The remaining species. Kori and Denham s. both perform 
balloon displays which are appropriate to their open habitat, for they can be 
seen over great distances. Bustards display most in the morning and evening, 
often in response to sudden weather changes. • • i n- 
In polygamous species, the male may indulge in a courtship ritual, alter 
attracting a female, by dancing round her. Copulation is rough and quick: 
the female crouches and the male grips her head and neck feathers with his 
beak, often plucking them. They then separate, the male pursuing other 
potential mates, the female is left alone to seek a nest and rear the young. 
Clutches are usually one or two, laid in a simple scrape on which the 
incubating female is very well camouflaged. The chicks leave the nest a w 
hours after hatching. They follow the female and remain together for ^ ® 
weeks, possibly joining loosely associating flocks of families at the ^nd o 
this period. Only one clutch a year is laid and species take from I - b years 
to reach maturity. , . . 
The bulk of Goriup’s lecture concerned threats to bustards from hunting a 
trade. The Houbara Bustard's Chlamydotis andulata virtual disappearance in 
Arabia best illustrates the speed at which a population can be decimated. 
Once upon a time Arab falconers crapped migrant falcons in the autumn, trained 
them, hunted bustards in the winter and released the falcons apin in the 
spring. The Houbara Bustards were a food source, sustaining their numbers 
successfully in the face of these traditional methods. The massive wealt 
generated by the oil boom revolutionised falconry. Powerful vehicles Pene - 
rated deep into the deserts, far more falcons were flown and the Houbara w 
decimated within two decades 
The hunting camps were forced to seek new populations ® ^ 
turned their attention to the migrant Houbaras that winter 
breeding grounds on the Russian steppes. Between 1963 
Houbara was hunted extensively the breeding population collapsed so . 
In 1983 President Zia ul Baq convened a symposium to review the status o 
Houbaras and Pakistan has banned I-ustard hunting for five years ® 
Once again the sheikhs began looking for new huntung rnriun 
to Africa. Kenya has already exported bustards to the Middle-East. Gor p 
has seen the characteristic Kenyan race of White-bellied (the male has 
black line below the eye) in captivity in Abu Dhabi. They are 
the Laikipia plateau and elsewhere with Buff-crested and Kori also being 
taken. Poor conditions cause the deaths of many captive birds ^ . 
also used as targets for training falcons. All this le^s to regular demand 
for replacement and is a constant drain on populations in 
It is a depressing picture, but not without hope. In Dubai, SheiRn 
Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum has established a Wildlife 
intent on conserving the wildlife of the Arabian region. The centre has a 
good track record of roaring Houbaras from wild laid eggs and 
chance of being successful with captive breeding m the future. The^uth 
African Black Bustard Eupodotis afra bred there in 1984 Shei^ ^ 
hunts the Houbara but appreciates the need to combine this with sen 
efforts to augment wild populations with captive bred birds. 
10 
