GREAT BUSTARD. 25 
them. I pulled the cord attached to the guns from the 
place of ambush, and thus shot seven at one discharge. 
Six were killed outright, and one fine old fellow had his 
wing broken, and was, of course, soon despatched with a 
stick I had. I remember the birds were presented by 
Turner to the then Prince of Wales (George IV.), the 
Duke of York, and others,* and I believe had the effect, 
in some degree, of procuring the berth of head-game- 
keeper at Windsor for Turner’s son, where he lived till 
his death.” 
Mr. Thomas Brightwell, of Norwich, lately informed 
me that on one occasion, when Mr. Barker lived at 
Anmer, he and his son saw a bustard as they were 
walking over the open “ brecks”’? between Anmer and 
Houghton; and in the same locality, according to a 
communication received through the late Lady Mid- 
dleton, a bustard was found and fired at by Lord Henry 
Cholmondeley when quite a young man. 
In the “Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds,” 
by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, those gentlemen 
state that “Mr. Hardy, of Norwich, has more than once 
succeeded in domesticating this species,” and through 
* In Ray’s edition (1678) of Willughby’s “ Ornithology” occurs 
the following passage as to the estimation in which the bustard 
was then held for the table:—‘Though some discommend their 
flesh, yet with us it is esteemed both delicate and wholesome. 
Hence, but chiefly for its rarity, the bustard sells very dear, 
serving only to furnish Princes and great men’s tables, at feasts 
and public entertainments.” 
Dr. Bree (“ Field,” 1867, p. 465) mentions his having partaken 
of a bustard in 1831, at Mr. Chad’s, then British minister at Berlin, 
who had estates in Norfolk, from whence the bird had been pro- 
cured, (a very long way for them to be sent in those days!) and 
most probably from some portion of the Swaffham tract, lying in 
the direction of Thursford. It was well-tasted, something between 
turkey and goose, “a rare union of gastronomic excellence.” 
E 
