The courting behavior involves an attractive display of the plumage, along with flight figures, leaps, or resounding calls. The first record of human association with bustards dates from 4,000 to 6,000 BC in the form of a simple outline drawing in the Tajo Segura cave in southern Spain. The drawing is unmistakably that of a great bustard and an early hunter. Yet our knowledge of the biology of the bustards as a group remains astonishingly meager. This statement still holds true for the Houbara bustard.
Classification is based on similarities in appearance and behavior.
It is an ancient sport. It is probably one of the very few, if not the only, form of hunting which has changed little in its methods and techniques. For many people, falconry is considered to be a form of art. The origin of falconry is completely unknown, but most references suggest that it may be from the Central Asian plateau which is bounded by the Altai mountains to the east and by the Aral Sea to the south. Today, this area encompasses China which has a high natural concentration of raptor species suitable for falconing, such as gyrfalcons, sakers, lanners, peregrine falcons, and eagles.