. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. The Great Bustard 261 in continuous fighting, the corn-growth is already quite tall, and iu the early mornings all vegetation is saturated with night-dews, it occasionally happens that a bustard may be met with incapable by this cause of taking wing—that is, that some of the flight-feathers are lost or broken and all dew-soaked {rocUidas). The bustard moults giadually and never loses the jujwer of flight. While never attaining the size of wild birds, }'et bustards thrive well in captivity—always assuming that they have been caught young. Okl Ijirds
. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. The Great Bustard 261 in continuous fighting, the corn-growth is already quite tall, and iu the early mornings all vegetation is saturated with night-dews, it occasionally happens that a bustard may be met with incapable by this cause of taking wing—that is, that some of the flight-feathers are lost or broken and all dew-soaked {rocUidas). The bustard moults giadually and never loses the jujwer of flight. While never attaining the size of wild birds, }'et bustards thrive well in captivity—always assuming that they have been caught young. Okl Ijirds brought home wounded never survive twenty-four hours, dying not from the wound (which may be insignificant) but from harinchin, which may be translated chagrin or a broken heart. Youno- bustards reared thus become. TAIL-FEATHERS OF GREAT BUSTARD extremely tame, coming to call and feeding from the hand, though when old the males are apt to grow- vicious in spring, attacking savagely children, dogs, and even women, especially those whom they see to be afraid.^ Tame as they are, they are always subject to strange alarms, seemingly causeless. Suddenly they raise their wings, draw in their heads, and dance around, jumping in air, and ever intently regarding the heavens— sometimes dashing off under cover of bushes. One may connect this exhibition with some speck in the sky, some passing eagle, more often no motive is discernible. Bustard-chicks emit a plaintive whistle so precisely similar to that of the kites that (when hatched out under a domestic hen) the foster-mother has been so terrified as to desert her brood. When adult, bustards are usually c|uite silent, save for a grunting noise in spring—that is, in captivity. But on a hot day we have heard the old males, ' We liave ni'ver succeeded in inducing ouv tanic bustards to breed in Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjecthunting, booksubjectnaturalhistory
