BUSTARDS. 4] 
Order IV. GRALLATORES. 
Fam. -OTIDID ~. 
GREAT BUSTARD. Otis tarda, Linneus. 
“‘ Besides the barren ‘brecks’ of Norfolk and 
Suffolk, the Great Bustard, on good authority, appears 
in former times to have been extremely common on 
all the open parts of this island which were suited to 
its habits—the elevated moors of Haddingtonshire 
and Berwickshire, the desolate wolds of Yorkshire 
and Lincolnshire, Newmarket and Royston Heaths, 
on the borders of Cambridgeshire, together with the 
downs of Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, South- 
ampton, and Sussex, being all more or less frequented 
by it; but in every one of these localities it had 
ceased to exist before the last of the race of British 
Bustards fell victims to the advancement of agricul- 
tural enterprise in this (Norfolk) and the adjoining 
county”*. It has long been extinct in Scotland; the 
occurrence of probably the last Scottish straggler is 
recorded by Dr. Fleming, in his ‘ History of British 
Animals,’ p. 115, where he states that one was shot in 
1803, in Morayshire.. As regards Ireland, the Great 
Bustard is included by Smith, in his ‘ History of 
Cork,’ as one of the birds of the County of Cork, in 
1749; but if ever it was really found in Ireland it 
has long since become extinct there. 
* Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. 11. p. 2. 
