62 Mr. Christy on Great Bustard and 



pounds. Its total length was about 3 feet 9 inches, and 

 the utmost expanse of its wings exceeded seven feet. 



So far as I am aware, there is no distinct and authentic 

 record of the occurrence of the Great Bustard in Essex ; 

 but Mr. Smoothy recollects being told, many years ago, by 

 a very aged fartn-labourer, that he had once known of a 

 nest here ; and there is a hamlet called Bustard Green not 

 far from Dunmow. Yarrell, too, mentions an advertise- 

 ment in the Spectator for 1712, where an estate is to be let 

 at Heydon, near Saffron Walden, with " woods of large 

 timber where there is all game, even to the pheasant 

 and bustard." The probability is that in its time 

 the bustard was not a very rare bird here ; but I should 

 not imagine that it was ever abundant. Our county has 

 not now, nor has it had for a very long time past, those 

 large open and uncultivated tracts of land which form the 

 strongholds of this species. 



A report reached Mr. Smoothy that Mr. "Wiseman, of 

 Paglesham, had a bustard lately killed there, but on in- 

 vestigation it turned out to be a continental specimen. 



The interest, however, does not cease with our specimen, 

 for it appears that, early this winter, several were seen 

 in the Channel Islands; and, I believe, on the very 

 same day the Woodham specimen was killed one was 

 observed in Cornwall, and some days later was caught by a 

 dog, but it turned out to be a very weak bird, bearing old 

 wounds. 



I do not pretend to have wisdom sufficient to explain 

 the fact of the occurrence of the Great Bustard once more 

 in this country ; but if my opinion were asked, I should 

 say the only reasonable supposition is that the weather in 

 France, which was sharper even than with us in this 

 country, disturbed and drove them to seek refuge elsewhere, 

 and that a few wandered to our shores.''' 



* I have beard of the occurrence of another bustard, not actually 

 in Essex, but just over the county border, at West Wickliam, in 

 Cambridgeshire. This bird, during the first days of last February, 

 frequented a large turnip-field on the farm of Mr. William Jonas, 

 who made several ineffectual attempts to shoot it. It was, however 



