BUSTARDS 1 6 1 



shire, in August 1861, and at Stronsay Vale, in 

 Orkney, a hen Bustard was shot, March 29, 1876, 

 the first recorded visit of this species to those islands 

 {Field, April 8 and 15, 1876, and Zool, 1876, p. 

 4927). 



The evidence bearing on the statement that 

 Bustards were formerly coursed with greyhounds 

 has been critically examined by the Rev. A. C. 

 Smith in his "Birds of Wiltshire," 1887, and the 

 fact established and explained. 



It is worthy of note that just as the Bustard was 

 on the verge of extinction as a breeding species in 

 England it was granted a "close time" by Act of 

 Parliament ; but the protective legislation came too 

 late. In 1831 the principal Game Act was passed 

 (l and 2 Will. 4, cap. 32), and amongst other things 

 provided (by sect. 3) that no Bustard was to be shot 

 between March 1 and Sept. 1, under a penalty of £1 

 and the costs of conviction. The eggs also were 

 protected by sect. 24 of the same statute (as they 

 had been by 25 Hen. 8, c. 11), but within a very 

 few years of the passing of that Act the last of the 

 native race of Bustards, as above shown, had dis- 

 appeared. 



About the time that Bustards' eggs were being 

 collected at Tilshead, in Wiltshire, for the purpose 

 of hatching them under hens, as related by Montagu 

 [Orn. Diet., 1802), another experimenter was making 

 similar attempts in Norfolk. Mr. George Hardy, 

 house-surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital 

 from 1793 to 1826, received in the years 1802-1808 



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