Among birds, none abounds more on the steppe than the bustard, or drakhva, as the Russians call it, which may be seen grazing in every direction. It migi-ates from Northern Russia on the approach of winter ; but about Odessa, and about the mouths of the Dniester and Dniejier, it generally remains all the year round. Bustards are usually seen in parties of from twelve to twenty, but their gregarious habits increase in proportion as the winter advances, when from eighty to a hundred will often be found together. This, however, arises not so much from the sociable propensities of the bird, as from the more limited extent of pastm'e to which it is then obliged to confine itself. If, terrified by the approach of a real or supposed enemy, one of these large flocks rises, the birds do not remain together, but fly away in different directions to their several nests. In June or July, they may be observed feeding with their young, and on those occasions the male bird is usuaUy seen anxiously watching over the security of his wife and little ones, whom he never fails to apprize of any danger that may seem to be drawing near. The vigilance of the cock is so great, that it is extremely difficult to get a shot at them. The Russians maintain that the bustard knows exactly how far a gun will carry, and never gives the alarm a moment sooner or later than is really necessary. Nevertheless, the Cossacks, who are the chief sportsmen on the steppe, contrive to outmatch the bustard in cunning. Sometimes they creep like snakes througli the long grass, and come unobserved upon their prey ; sometimes they lure the male birds by means of a little instrument made out of the windpipe of an ox, on which the treacherous hunter contrives to imitate with astonishingaccuracy tlie cry of the female. The most remarkable kind of bustard hunting, however, takes place in winter. The birds at that season creep under the thistles and other hig-h weeds in search of some shelter ag-ainst the severity of the cold. While in this position, if a hoar frost comes on, theii wings become so incrusted with ice, that they lose the power of flying, and they then fall an easy prey to foxes, wolves, and above all, to man. The Cossacks, on horseback, run them down with ease, and kill them with the blow of a whip. If the hunter has chosen his time well, and is nimble in the chase, he may expect good sport. Indeed, there are men among the peasantry of the steppe who have become comparatively rich by a few successful bustard-hunts. One man, we are told, killed 150 bustards in one morning with his whip, and sold them at Odessa for 450 rubles. In the north, ten or fifteen rubles are often given for one of these birds.
Eagles, vultures, and other birds of prey, are sufficiently abundant, and have probably always been so ; but of late years, since a portion of the steppe has been brought under the plough, a number of granivorous birds have made their appearance that were formerly altogether unknown there, and others that were formerly rare have multipHed in a striking manner. Of singing birds, the lark is the only one known on the steppe ; but in the gardens about Odessa, the nightingale is occasionally heard.
Of reptiles there is no lack, frogs, toads, and snakes abounding in every part of the country, notwithstanding the dryness of the soil. Toads, particularly, display their ugly forms in every direction, and after a shower of rain they sometimes show themselves in such numbers, that it is difficult to walk a dozen paces without becoming the involuntary instrument of destruction to several of them. Sometimes a remarkable phenomenon occurs in the summer months ; and though I never witnessed the fact myself, yet I have heard its appearance so often described, not merely by ignorant peasants, but by many of the most intelligent among the German colonists, that I feel it impossible to refuse credence to their accomits. This phenomenon is known among them as the " toad-shower."