[appendix B.] birds of NORFOLK. 403 



cliased it about a long time without being able to get a 

 shot at all. The bird has since been seen in the parish 

 of Larling. (Jan. 22d, 1841.)" 



This story has been variously told and often dis- 

 believed, but the above note, written at the time and 

 probably from information obtained at first hand, makes 

 it more credible than had hitherto appeared, and it will 

 be observed that Mr. Lubbock speaks unhesitatingly of 

 the bird as a bustard — which many people were inclined 

 to doubt. Whether, however, it was the last of the 

 Norfolk race or an immigrant is, of course, uncertain, 

 though the presumption is certainly in favour of the 

 latter view. More than two years had passed since the 

 Lexham bird (vol. ii., p. 7) — itself quite possibly a 

 stranger, though generally regarded as a native — had 

 occurred, and many years since real Norfolk bustards 

 had been seen anywhere near Roudham. Moreover, 

 experience had not then shown that it is by no means 

 uncommon for bustards to visit England in midwinter, 

 which is now known to be a fact, and that when they 

 do so occur it is most often in places remote from the 

 ancient haunts of the native bird. That this should 

 happen is not surprising when the limited extent of 

 those haunts, compared with the rest of England, is 

 considered. 



Through the liberahty of the representatives of the 

 late Miss Postle, the bustard shot at Horsey in 1820 

 (vol. ii., pp. 30, 37) has found a home in the Norwich 

 Museum, as also has the specimen killed at Lexham in 

 May, 1838 {torn, cit., p. 7) — by some supposed to be the 

 last of the old Norfolk race — which was presented to 

 the Museum in 1877 by the Rev. W. A. W. Keppel, 

 and is there placed in the same case as the other speci- 

 mens fi'om this county. 



More precise information concerning the specimen 

 formerly in the Norwich Museum, and now in the collec- 

 tion of the Rev. C. S. Lucas, of Burgh (vol. ii., pp. 35, 

 36), is furnished by a letter dated Watton, 24th May, 

 1829, written by Mr. J. S. Futter to the late Mr. Samuel 

 Woodward, and now in the possession of his son, Mr. 

 Horace B. Woodward, as follows : — 

 3c2 



