In the NeigJibourJiood of Sul'ishury. 181 



from the beak to the end of the tail, and 6;iin. from tip to tip of 

 the wing-s/^ 



Tliis bird would appear to have been one of a small drove of eig-ht, 

 which had some weeks previously appeared in Devonshire, and which, 

 when it had arrived on our plain, had dwindled down to four. Two 

 out of the four that had thus previously disappeared had been shot 

 in the counties further west, and came into the possession of the 

 Rev. Murray Matthews, then Vicar of Bishop's Lydeard, and of Mr. 

 Cecil Smith, the squire of the same parish, both of whom have large 

 and very perfect collections of our British birds. There were now 

 three birds still remaining', one of which, for certain, was a cock 

 bird ; and this bird soon shared the same fate as its predecessors, as 

 on the Thursday following the slaughter of the hen, a cock bird was 

 killed with a bullet on Mr. Pinckney's ground at Berwick St James. 

 The birds were then exceedingly wary, and the only way by which 

 they could be approached was by forming four or five different 

 parties, and drawing in upon them simultaneously in a large circle. 

 This bird weighed fifteen pounds, and measured 7ft. Sin. in expanse 

 of wing, and 3ft. 4in. from beak to tail. This, again, was but a 

 little weight for a male Bustard, for sometimes under favourable 

 circumstances, they reach a very large size^the Rev. A. C. Smith, 

 of Yatesbury, for instance, having a remarkably fine specimen in 

 his collection, which came from Portugal, and which weighed no less 

 than thirty pounds and a-half. 



The pair of birds which were thus eventually left out of this 

 persecuted drove were never shot ; and there was an effort made on 

 the part of some to respite them from the untimely end of their 

 comrades, as is evidenced by the following letter, which was ad- 

 dressed to the editor of our local journal, " A Plea for the Bustards.^* 

 " Sir — may I request your valuable assistance by inserting a plea for 

 the lives of the beautiful pair of Bustards which are still walking 

 over the lands of this and the parishes adjoining, as doubtless they 

 would breed, the close time being so very near, and thus pleasantly 

 add to the unexpected novelty of their re-appearance in our gene- 

 ration." They soon, however, disappeared from amongst us, and as 

 far as I know were traced no further. There was a rumoui* of a 



