OTIDID.E. 



523 





THE GREAT BUSTARD. 



Otis tarda, Linnseus. 



Until the year 1526 the Great Bustard used to breed, sparingly, on 

 the flat portions of Berwickshire and East Lothian, on the Scottish 

 side of the Border ; while in England it was abundant on the moors, 

 extensive downs and plains as far south as the Channel. The 

 enclosure of wastes, the planting of trees, and the increase of 

 population contributed to the gradual diminution of its numbers ; 

 and this fine species gradually passed away from Berkshire, Hert- 

 fordshire, Cambridgeshire, the wolds of Lincolnshire, and the downs 

 of Sussex, while the first decade of this century saw the extinction 

 of the birds indigenous to Salisbury Plain. On the Eastern Wolds 

 of Yorkshire a survivor of former droves was trapped in 1832-33 ; 

 and in Norfolk and Suffolk the last fertile eggs were taken about 

 1838, though a few birds lingered to a somewhat later date. The 



