GREAT BUSTARD. 199 



judged to weigh upwards of 20 lbs., and to measure between 

 the extremities of its wings, when extended, about 5 feet, 

 and its height was about 3^ feet. In August Mr. Bartley 

 sold this noble bird to Lord Temple for the sum of thirty 

 guineas. 



" The Bustard inhabits the extensive downs of Salisbury 

 Plain ; but its race is now almost extirpated. It is thought 

 that not more than three or four are now remaining. Some 

 time in the last summer (viz. 1801), while Mr. Bartley had 

 this bird in his possession, a nest, supposed to belong to this 

 bird, or at least to his mate, for Mr. Bartley' s bird was 

 judged to be a male, was found in a wheat-field on Market 

 Lavington Down. It contained two eggs ; they sometimes 

 lay three, though very seldom ; they are about the size of 

 those of a goose, of a pale olive-brown, with small spots of 

 a darker hue. The nest was made upon the ground, by 

 scratching a hole in the earth, and lined with a little grass. 

 The eggs were rotten, and had probably undergone a period 

 of incubation. 



'* An instance of a Bustard attacking a human being, or 

 even a brute animal, of any considerable size, was, I believe, 

 never before heard of; and that two instances of this kind 

 should occur so nearly together may be considered very 

 remarkable. About a fortnight subsequent to the taking of 

 this bird, Mr. Grant, a respectable farmer of Tilshead, was 

 returning from Warminster Market, and near Tilshead 

 Lodge, which is something more than half a mile from the 

 village, was attacked in a similar manner, by, as it is thought, 

 the mate of the same bird. Mr. Grant's horse being rather 

 high-mettled, took fright, became unmanageable and ran 

 off, and consequently Mr. Grant was compelled to abandon 

 his design of endeavouring to capture the bird." * 



By the time that Montagu wrote, in 1813, none had been 

 seen for several years ; and as regards both Wiltshire and 

 Dorsetshire, the first ten years of this century probably saw 

 the last of the Bustards indigenous to that district. They 



* ^lian, Athenreus, Plutarch, and Oppian, mention the affection of tho 

 Bustard for the Horse. 



