out of sowing time, and in harvest time, then they feed upon
pure. com. In the Summer, towards the ripening of corn,
I have seen half a dozen of them lie in a Wheat-field fattening
themselves (as a Deer will doe) with ease and eating. . .
Chuse the; youngest and fattest- about Allhalow \tide' ^(for
then they are best), and diet him a day..-or two I . ,
then let him bleed to. death' in the heck veins, and having
hung three or four days in a cool place out of the moonshine
either rost or bake it as you do a Turkie, and it will prove
both a dainty and wholesome meat.”
Drayton (Poly-olbion, 25th Song) speaks of
“ The big hoax?& Bustard then'whose body bears that size
That he against the wind must’runne ere he can'rise.-
In the printed catalogue of'the contents' Iff the'’Tradekcant
Museum, ‘ preserved at South Lambeth; in 16^6^1 i3.f “ The
Bustard, as big as a Turkey; usually taken by greyhounds
on Newmarket Heath” ; and Merrett^m }&a'pMax. rWbm
naturalium Britannicarum, mT667', includes'the Bustard as
taken on Newmarket Heath and ahctut ‘Salisbury.’
A little later the celebrated Sir Thomas Browne speaks
“ Bistar d<z or Bustards, not unfrequent in' the^'champian
and fieldy part of this country: ^orfdlk]'. A la%b!^hwd;
accounted a dainty dish,'observable in the strength'*of the
breast-bone and short heel. Lays' an egg much' larger than
a turkey'.M (Wilkin’s Ed. Iv. p. 3 i 8ff |l
Willughby- in Bay’s: ^Edition'of the ‘ Ornithology'’
(1678),: says^that*' “ on* NewmafkeT and" Bof st^^lleaths; in
Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, uand ' e ls ^ h ^ £m Wasts and
Plains, thgy are found vgith u s” ; and in Reference to'Bhltards,
as formerly inhabiting that part of the c'onhlryy-Addison’ s
Spectator, N o J ^ t j i . , for Tuesday^lfar^^^^
tains an advertisem‘ent,lof-^vhich thev'fdllow%i‘hi^<a*cdjfj :—
“ Heydbn jp near WAlmvn a n d B fv § r ^ ? t^ sM ^ ^
Sir Peter Soame, Bart., deceased^^dh^thun ageh¥ffTbill, with
a very large and cpleasanteprospeet,. fair gardens,*.c^nal^pfi..sh
whwe Mr. Gratpombe.saw a man, with'seme feathers ‘In tril’ h a t f ^ o n e ' of which
the, owner .pointed with^rf#^ Eying, ‘ ‘ T h irh e re fp lh belonged t6Iblte'6f^tfieSi
Turkey-buzzards ” f'-fflwi.' s.'s? p!
ponds, dove coate,-and all sorts of-offices without'door, woods
of large timber, and-where is all game in great plenty, even
to the Bustard and Pheasant, is to he1 let, furnished or
unfurnished, for 16 years: Enquire at-Mr.-Ohus, ih> BaMy"
Street,- Piccadily,~or at Mr. Cooper’s, at the Blue Boar, in
Holborn.” To this the Author may add, that in’Melbourne,
the parish'-Uext below-Boyston, there'is^a piece of land;which
is still known by the name 'of Bustard-Leys; and Dr. Georg'é
Thackeray, thu Provost , of King’S^Cétëgé, Cambridge,-sent
him word that Mr. Townley,Ahefather of Mr. Greaves
Townley, of Eulbourne, told him thatffor some years after he
first went tcrlive -there#’ Bustards regularly bredSon his estate".
In, Morton’s * Natural Alistory oPNorthampton,’ p. 425
(1712), -Occurs the f o l l o w i n g ”^-The- Bustard,-Q(ls,; seu
Tarda avis<, another bird-of theipaultry kind, fe%so uncommon
with us, th a t I never heard o# more than two" of them'here,
one1 of'which was- shot by Captain Saunders in Moulton
EiéM.”
- By the m d - o j the la s t and th é beginning of the- present
géÉtury, -Bustards h ad become exceedingly scarce in thfeii*
southern-huunts.^tl^Dl^onshire,- where $Mk:. oieurrehlè has
beenffffeorded by M-ontdgffj-fft; was probably1'^ 'straggler*.
•White of ^elbèrhè," in ‘that ïipMiOh'of '"his tlo h rn a l pub-
lishéd^hyMrplTêtse- i n v o l u m e of his ‘ Gleanings
in Natural, History,’ ' s ays , -Spent three hours: of- this^d^y-,
Noveihbër T7, 1782, at a' lene- farm■:hou-k^^in t|ae midst
of the ' downs between ■ Andover ^and Winton. The" carter
-%öft us that rahèht': twelye^years -before4 he' had’ seen-'a ffoc'k
of AigMteeft^’Bustards *on th a t farm, and undes ince only
two ' White- adds' in another'place, N Bustards when géén
. oh;-,the downs resemble - fall'S'w 'd ^ ^ ^ t -a-^distance/'’ In
Daniel’s ‘ Bural ^Sports? it is stilted; öm t7 ó ^ l|f e g 2 9 tb of
'September,- ^ rö u c h , Burford,' shot a hen
■®ti:sferd'‘on Salisbury Plain. This' hir&Avas killed at the
distance' of ;-yards' with a confmon 'fowling-pWcè', /'and
%ith such' shot as :is generallyhjsed^fdr partridge-shooting.
There Vére qther Bustiirds'inP company with the ’one
éhotfheSther -of which %ppeaiedffJhbe hurt;’1’1