184 Oil the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



On coming- to authenticated instances Mr. W. Hart informs me 

 til at a Little Bustard was killed some years ago at Heron Court, in 

 a turnip or swede field ; and that it is now in Lord Malmeshury's 

 collection — while there was another specimen procured from Fossie 

 Common, Winforth, in Dorsetshire, on December 26th, 1853. These 

 are the only two instances he knows of as having occurred anywhere 

 in our neighbourhood. 



With this bird we come to an end of the Rasores, or Game Birds ; 

 and I must warn my kind readers that if their interest in ornithology 

 is sufficient to cause them to peruse another paper of this series, 

 they must be prepared to " wade " with me deeper into the waters of 

 ornithology, and associate themselves with the " Grallatores," which 

 come next in order. I must also ask the reader not to criticise this, 

 or any other of these papers, with too captious or scientific an eye, 

 inasmuch as the writer is neither a professor of ornithology nor a 

 scientific naturalist, but only one who takes a supreme interest in 

 the " Fowls of the air," and to whom it is a real pleasure to turn 

 from severer studies, however tired he may be, and spend a half-hour 

 amongst his feathered friends. The object of these papers, therefore, 

 is not so much to describe accurately the bird itself, nor to dive too 

 deeply into its ways or habitat ; but simply to jot down whatever 

 occurences can be discovered, that others also may keep their eyes 

 open, and their ears attentive, to ornithological news, of which there 

 is always so much more to be picked up than is generally thought, 

 if only a pertinent question is now and then put. And further, to 

 describe what has interested the writer himself, in the hopes that it 

 may possibly interest others also. And I may say in conclusion 

 that I shall be always grateful for any bird news that anyone may 

 be able to send me, and still more for any specimen out of the 

 common, which the possessor for the time being may not know what 

 to do with, and such as is often thrown away, from not knowing 

 what to do with it, or where to send it. If a rare bird is shot, and 

 generally it would be far better to leave it unharmed, it is a thousand 

 pities not to perpetuate it in some collection, and so let it tell its 

 own tale — whereas, to kill it first, and then throw it on one side, is 

 acting but like the thoughtless schoolboy, who, attracted by the 



