Boiujh-lcggcd Buz zarclin Essex. 61 



their appetites ; and as they are generally very fat, they 

 are unable to fly without inuch preparation : when, there- 

 fore, the 'greyhounds come within a certain distance, the 

 bustards run off, clap their wings, and endeavour to gather 

 under them air enough to rise ; in the meantime the dogs 

 are continually gaining ground, till at last it is too late for 

 flight. However, notwithstanding the sluggishness of their 

 usual pace, they can, when in danger, run very fast, and 

 once fairly on the wing are able to fly several miles with- 

 out resting." There is a gentleman here at Chelmsford 

 whose grandfather, then resident in Norfolk, used to keep 

 greyhounds for the purpose of coursing bustards. 



The pages of the Zoologist have recorded a few specimens 

 from time to time, but in rapidly decreasing numbers, and, 

 if I remember rightly, there have been no records for 

 several years. This will show the interest attaching in 

 a visit once more from the Great Bustard, and perhaps 

 justify a rather lengthy notice of it. 



The Essex specimen was brought by its owner, on the 

 day of its death, to Chelmsford Market, and deposited for 

 a time w^ith our local bird-stuffer. Here it was fortunately 

 not destined long to remain. Mr. Pertwee, who valued it 

 but slightly, not being a naturahst, after some hesitation 

 parted with it to my friend Mr. C. Smoothy, of Bexfields, 

 Galleywood, near Chelmsford — a very good ornithologist 

 and an amateur taxidermist of more than average pre- 

 tensions — to whose already extensive collection of rare 

 birds, all preserved by his own hands, it forms a grand 

 addition. It is a matter for congratulation that instead of 

 being roasted like a turkey by some ignorant nineteenth- 

 century heathen, it has passed into the hands of a person 

 knowing so well how^ to appreciate it as Mr. Smoothy, who 

 would, I know, be very pleased to show^ it to any member 

 feeling interested enough to call upon him. There seems 

 to be some doubt as to whether it is a young male or a 

 female bird, but probably it is the latter. Whether this is 

 the case or no, it has not the imposing size and conspicuous 

 beard of the adult male, and only weighed about ten 

 pounds ; the average weight of the male being twenty-five 



