52 QBteAT BUSTARD.
at J la wold, the property of Sir Charles Anderson, Bart. Morton
records one killed in Moulton Field, near Northampton. Tn an old
History of Northamptonshire it is mentioned that the Great Bustard
was at one lime common in that county; so it doubtless was on the
Lincolnshire Wolds, but it is now extinct as an inhabitant. Dr.
Plomncy records in the 'Zoologist,' page 2700, the occurrence of
one, a female, at Lydd, on Romuey Alarm, Kent, January 4th., 1850,
where another, also a female, W&S shot in the winter of 1853 or 1854,
ami (lie species would appear, he says, to have been not uncommon
t h e r e formerly. In Devonshire one is recorded by John Gat combe,
Esq., in ' T h e Naturalist,' vol. ii, page 33, as having been shot on
December 31st., 1851, at Millaton Bridestowe. In Cornwall one was
met with the beginning of 1843, on the open moor country between
Helston and the Lizard Point: it was a female. Another in 1854 at
St. Austell, and yet another on Goonhilly Downs.
'flic following aceouut of Wiltshire specimens has been published by
Henry Blackmore, Esq., of Salisbury:—'The last Bustard killed in this
neighbourhood was in January, T85G; a little boy found it with its
leg broken by the side of a field of turnips, near Hungerford, on the
borders of Wiltshire. As the bird was fluttering he seized one of its
wings, and dragged it nearly' a quarter of a mile, until he reached a
barn, in which were some men at dinner, one of whom killed it by
breaking its neck. This specimen afterwards passed into the hands of
Mr. W, 11. Rowland, of Hungerford, hy whom it was sent to London
to be preserved, and eventually was added to the fine collection of
the late Rev. G. Marsh, at Sutton Benger, Wilts., after whose decease
it came into the possession of his brother, M. H. Marsh, Esq., M.P.,
of Ramridge House, near Andover.
Mr. Swayne, of Wilton, near Salisbury, recollects having seen several
Bustards on our Wiltshire Downs. On one occasion, when riding to
Devizes, he wished In lest the then received opinion, that their swiftness
in running was given them to compensate for a difficulty they7 experienced
in taking wing. Seeing a number of Bustards on a hill near
Tilshead, he rode up the valley, concealing himself as much as possible
h y leaning over the neck of his horse, when about two hundred yards
from the birds he suddenly ascended the hill, riding fast until he was
within about one hundred yards of them, when they made but a few
springs, were immediately on the wing, and flew away. This fact
serves to confirm the opinion of those ornithologists who contend that
t h e Bustard was not formerly h u n t e d by dogs trained for the purpose;
at all events, if the sport was followed, as stated by some authors, it
probably was in pursuit of young birds.
G R E A T m STARD. 53
Some Salisburv people still living can remember the Bustard which
was kept for several months at the Red Lion Hotel, in this city, by
Mrs. Steedman, to whom it was given by a traveller, who captured it
as he was on his way from Devizes to Salisbury. Mrs. Steedman
valued the bird highly, and refused an offer of ten guineas for it;
but, like many pets, it met with an untimely end, being killed by a
dog which found its way into the room where it was kept.
1 have seen a very fine specimen of the Great Bustard in the collection
of Air. Tugwell, of Devizes, which was killed near Langlcy, in
Wiltshire, at the commencement of this century.
Mr. Moore, of Durrington, Wilts., has a painting of a Bustard taken
from a bird shot by a shepherd near that village in 1802.
I n 1801, Mr, B. Bartley, of Tilshead, Wilts., kept a Bustard in
confinement for some time, which was captured by a man on the
downs near that village; he afterwards sold it to Lord Temple for
thirty guineas.
I t is stated that at the annual inauguration feast of the Mayors of
Salisbury the Bustard was a prominent dish. I think I have quoted
a sufficient number of instances, although others could be cited, to
prove that the Great Bustard was not a stranger to our neighbourhood.'
I n Scotland it was formerly met with, but Sir Robert Sibhald mentions
it as rare in his day; one was shot in Morayshire in 1803, b y William
Young, Esq., of Boroughcad.
I n Ireland it was enumerated by Smith in 1749 as one of the birds
of the county of Cork, but it has long since become extinct there, as
well as more recently in this part of the kingdom. If some feathered
' R i p Van W i n k l e ' of the ' g o o d old times' could revisit the scenes he
frequented in the 'days that are gone,' he would so little recognise
them as the same, that he would not wonder that none of his kind
were still to be found in haunts now rendered so unsuitable to them.
I t is stated also to have occurred in the county of AVicklow.
I t is rather a wanderer than of regular migratory habits, and flies
sometimes when thus ' f l i t t i n g ' at a great height in the air.
The Bustard has been domesticated, but is said to continue fierce
towards strangers, and not to breed in confinement. In the wild state
it appears to be likewise savage, perhaps when excited for its nest or
young. It is naturally a wild bird, and frequents in winter open
barren parts, from whence it is only compelled by stress of severe
weather, when the snow is deep, to approach nearer to country villages;
in the summer, however, the nest being placed in cultivated places,
where the young are brought up, they and the dams find their living
among corn. They roost at night in the most open situations, and