usmAitr u. of t. tjfmAKA-ctiAS*?AWN 
1034 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 25, 1909. 
For large Game Shooting no 
more reliable Repeater 
than the 
Sauer-Mauser 
Either 8 mm., 9 mm. or the 
new 11 mm. Range 
3000 yards. 
Prices, $50.00 and $60.00 
Schoverling, Daly & Gales 
302 and 304 Broadway, New York 
din($ne' 
is used and recommended by the^ 
largest fire-arms manufacturers ini 
America. Experienced gun users every 
where say it is the best rust preventative! 
on earth—on water, too. 
Being a light oil it enters the pores } 
of the metal and forms an impercept-l 
jble covering that is moisture-proof I 
without making the gun sticky orj 
greasy to handle. Bestforoilingthe j 
fine mechanisms of the finest gun, 
because it does not dry out, gum, i 
harden, turn rancid, collect dust.J 
MU Free 3-in-one oil co. 
3E 61 New St., 
New York, N.Y. 
Uncle Lisha's Outing. 
A Sequel to “Uncle Lisha’s Shop.” By Rowland E. 
Robinson. Cloth. Price, $1.26. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
Building Motor Boats and 
Managing Gasolene Engines 
are discussed in the book 
“HOW TO BUILD A LAUNCH FROM PLANS” 
A complete, illustrated work on the building of motor 
boats and the installing, care and running of gasolene 
motors. By Charles G. Davis. With 40 diagrams, 9 
folding drawings/ and 3 full-page plans. Price, post¬ 
paid, $1.50. 
The author is a builder and designer of national repu¬ 
tation. All the instruction given is defined and com¬ 
prehensive, 40 diagrams, 9 folding drawings and 3 full- 
page plans. That portion of the book devoted to the 
use and care of gas engines should be most carefully 
perused by every individual who operates one. The book 
is well worth the price asked for it. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
When writing say you saw the adv. in 
“Forest and Stream.’’ 
Used by MR. CHAS. G. SPENCER During 
1907 1908 
Broke 94.9# of 16,220 Targets Broke 96.77# of 11,175 Targets 
These unequalled records denote the greatest regularity of Shotgun powder. 
The best guide for the future should be the records of the past. 
Insist on having all your shells loaded with stability guaranteed Dead Shot. 
Manufactured by 
AMERICAN POWDER MILLS 
Chicago, Ill. Boston, Mass. St. Louis, Mo. 
entry to the effect that a lesser bustard was shot 
at Temsford, Bedfordshire, on Feb. 3, 1854. We 
presume, however, that such visits are purely 
accidental, and though both the great and the 
lesser bustard figure in almost every work 
upon British birds, it is questionable whether 
either may be rightly placed on the list of the 
British birds of the twentieth century. 
The bustard family comprises some forty 
distinct species, distributed over the face of the 
old world. Of these Africa boasts by far the 
greater number; India and Australia are repre¬ 
sented; and Europe possesses two kinds, 
namely, the great and the lesser bustard. 
The largest of all European birds, the male 
great bustard, sometimes exceeds three feet in 
length, measures eight feet across the wings, 
and weighs close upon thirty pounds. The 
female is considerably smaller. The bustards 
are essentially land birds, and inhabit wide, 
open plains and steppes, upon which they may 
roam at large and sight their enemies from 
afar. Water seems a very secondary considera¬ 
tion with them, as they are often found many 
miles from either stream or pool. In the “bad 
old days” one of the many questionable British 
modes of securing a heavy bag of bustards was 
as follows: A certain portion of a plain or 
fen, inhabited by bistards, was baited with grain 
or other vegetable food within range of a 
masked battery of fowling-pieces so laid that a 
hidden man lying at a considerable distance 
from the scene of slaughter could, by means of 
a long trigger-line, discharge the guns simul¬ 
taneously, upon the quarry approaching within 
range. 
Many bustards were taken in snares, nets and 
springs, and our forefathers used to course the 
great bustard with greyhounds. But it is a 
moot question, we imagine, whether any but 
winged or otherwise crippled birds were often 
accounted for by this last means; for although 
the bustard can, when called upon to do so, run 
faster probably than any other winged creature, 
with the exception of the ostrich and the emu, 
he invariably takes wing when hard pressed, 
and we have seen a kori bustard (the ghaurn 
paanw of South Africa), with one wing hope¬ 
lessly smashed by a .303 bullet, try to escape its 
captor by flight. Shyest of all game birds, 
bustards, when assembled on an open plain, are 
extremely difficult to approach. They are ex¬ 
ceedingly inquisitive, however, and South 
African sportsmen sometimes outmaneuver the 
paanw by riding round and round it, and gradu¬ 
ally diminishing the circles. As the horseman 
draws near, the bustard, hoping to escape notice, 
usually lies down, and upon approaching within 
range the sporstman puts the bird hors de 
combat with a charge of heavy shot, or per¬ 
chance a small bullet. Doubtless it is the horse 
that excites the curiosity of this unusually wary 
creature; for unless a man on foot be an expert 
long-range rifle shot he will very seldom out¬ 
match the cunning of the bustard, however 
carefully and cleverly he may stalk the bird. 
Naturalists affirm that the bustards are re¬ 
lated to the order gralse, or rails (crane, heron, 
rails, plover, snipe, etc.); but they differ from 
the rails in having three toes only to either foot, 
and in other anatomical details too numerous 
to enter into here. The male great bustard, 
unlike the smaller species, _ possesses a large 
air-pouch, the orifice of which is situated be¬ 
tween the underpart of the tongue and the | 
lower mandible. This is the bird’s. wind-instru¬ 
ment, and it is said that he uses‘it with great 
effect as a charm-call during the courting sea¬ 
son. The long whisker-like tufts of feathers 
which sprout from either side of the throat of 
the male bird during the summer plumage are 
wanting in the smaller species. The general 
plumage of the bustard harmonizes wonderfully I 
with the scant herbage and general surround¬ 
ings of its natural habitat. Indeed. Queen 
Nature is quite as happy in her choice of 
plumage for the bustard family as she is in that 
of the grouse, the woodcock, the wryneck, and 
the fern-owl. 
Cock bustards are particularly pugnacious, 
and during the breeding season “battles royal” 
are of frequent occurrence. An apology for a 
nest is made on the bare earth, but although 
