8. BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
of Mr. Woods, gives the date of this female* as “ about 
1837 ;” Mr. W. G. Woods, however, considers that it 
was “about twenty-four years since,” that is to say, 
from the date of his letter to me in 1865, which 
would make it some three years later than, instead 
of one year prior to the Lexham bird. That the 
former supposition is by no means impossible is further 
shown by a record in Mr. Lubbock’s “ Fauna” (pub- 
lished in 1845), in which that gentleman says “one 
bustard three years back was observed in the parish of 
Bridgham, near Harling,” a statement which Mr. Newton, 
after much enquiry of people in that neighbourhood, is 
rather inclined to credit, and adds, ‘‘ whatever it was, 
though shot at by a gentleman, the late Mr. George 
Montgomerie (then living in the adjoining parish of 
Garboldisham), it was not obtained, and hence the 
uncertainty that exists. I have met with several 
rumours, each apparently with an independent origin, 
of a bustard having been seen in Norfolk about that 
time (1842), so that I cannot but think there is some 
truth at the bottom of them.” 
Such, then, in brief, is the history of the gradual 
and final extinction of this noble species in the Hastern 
Counties. In order, however, better to comprehend the 
causes which led to so unfortunate a result, I have 
thought it desirable to collect from every available source 
the scattered records existing of its habits, numbers, 
and local distribution. Yet, besides such notes as have 
appeared from time to time in natural history publica- 
tions, there remained to be gathered from the evidence 
of shepherds, warreners, gamekeepers, labourers, and 
others, still living in localities where these birds had so 
* T have been unable, after many enquiries, to ascertain whether 
this bird was cooked and eaten at the time, or preserved as a stuffed 
specimen. 
