I l l l ü f f 1 1 » »
Otis tarda, Linne.
V e r n a c u l a r N a m e s . — [ N o n e ? .]
NCE, and once only, as yet, has the Great Bustard
of Europe been obtained within the limits of the
British Empire in the East.
On the 23rd of December 1870, a couple of my
collectors, who were working at Mardan, under the
direction of Dr. J.A.Johnson, then of the Guides, came
across a party of Bustard in some fields of mustard
and giant millet, belonging to Hashtnagar and just north
of the Kabul River. The birds were very shy, but my old
jamadar succeeded, by driving a buffalo in front of him, in
getting within shot and knocking over a female.
This Hashtnagar is within a few miles of the very most
north-westerly point of British India proper, and is in fat. 34°
N., and long. 71° 45' E.
This party of Bustard did not leave the neighbourhood for
some weeks, but they were so wary that, despite all the efforts
of many sportsmen, Native and European, no second specimen
could be obtained ; and notwithstanding repeated subsequent
enquiries from officers stationed at Mardan, Michni and Shabkadar,
in the midst of which Hashtnagar lies, I have never been
able to learn that the Great Bustard has again revisited the
locality.
Hutton did not meet with this species in Affghanistan, nor
has it as yet been recorded (though it may occur there) from
any part of Persia, east of the Caspian. Its range may
be roughly said to embrace nearly the whole of Europe,
except the more northern portions (it used to be not uncommon
in Great Britain, though now extinct there), the most northerly
parts of Africa, (Algeria and Morocco), Asia Minor, North-West
Persia, and probably nearly the whole of Asia, between the 38th
and 60th parallels of north latitude, as far east as the Bureja
Mountains (Radde,) and the plains of Northern and Central
China, (David). Prjevalski met with single birds in the Great
Gobi Desert, and found them breeding about Lake Hanka.
IN E U R O P E they are seen at times in flocks or droves of fifty
and upwards, and very commonly in parties of considerable size ;