126 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



off, where the seven had been seen that morning 

 and on the next day ; both of these were preserved 

 by Mr. Rowe, the gunmaker at Barnstaple '' {ihid. 

 ^. 2476). 



In confirmation of the foregoing, the Rev. M. 

 A. Mathew adds : " My father writes to me from 

 Instow that he recently had some conversation with 

 a gentleman who had been invited to sup off a 

 Great Bustard, so that it is really a fact that the 

 third of the Braunton Bustards was doomed to the 

 spit. The flesh of the bird was described as very 

 good, and dark like that of a hare. The bird 

 which met this ignominious fate, was shot on 

 wing, and fell with a broken pinion, and is said to 

 have been one of the flock of eight " (ihid. p. 2510). 

 Most of the country people in the neighbourhood 

 of Braunton, considered the Bustards to be wild 

 turkeys, and as such the visitors were duly 

 chronicled in the ' North Devon Journal.' Mr. 

 Gatcombe, at the Barnstaple Railway Station 

 observed a man with some feathers in his hat, and 

 on speaking to him concerning them he replied, 

 taking off his hat and pointing to a particular one, 

 " This here, Sir, belonged to one of them Turkey 

 Buzzards." 



LITTLE BUSTARD.— 0/is tetrax, Linn. 



A RARE visitant. Montagu obtained a female bird, 

 shot near Torrington in December 1804, and sold 

 in Plymouth market as a female Black Grouse. He 



