SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



to pull this cord whenever they saw the bustards 

 within range. A shepherd on the Place Farm, 

 at Thetford, of which Sir Robert Buxton was 

 landlord, has stated that on one occasion, about 

 the year 1820, he saw five or six bustards, and 

 pulling the string shot two cock birds. There 

 is evidence also of hen bustards having been 

 captured on their nests. Before 181 1, Coulson, 

 keeper to Lord Albemarle, tried ineffectually to 

 throw a casting net over a sitting bird at Elveden ; 

 he took her eggs, which were hatched out under 

 a hen ; the young, successfully reared, were 

 eventually killed by dogs. More than ten years 

 later, Mr. Booty, a farmer at Barnham, per- 

 formed the feat with dexterity at Stow, and 

 carried off the old bustard which he kept in the 

 cheese room of his farm-house. 



Referring to recent reintroduction of these 

 birds Lord Walsingham wrote from Merton 

 Hall, near Thetford, to the Eastern Counties 

 Magazine on 4 November, 1 900 : — 



Up to the present time I am not aware that any 

 systematic attempt has been made to reintroduce under 

 conditions of complete liberty the noblest of our 

 indigenous game birds, but on one occasion the late 

 Lord Lilford took much trouble to find a mate for a 

 single male bustard which was known to be at large 

 in one of the fen districts of Norfolk in the year 

 1876. He telegraphed to several zoological gardens 

 on the Continent before succeeding in his object, and 

 the reply received in one instance (I think he told 

 me it was Madrid) was, ' Nous n'avons pas des 

 outardes : voulcz-vous des faisans ? ' A healthy hen 

 bird did at last arrive, but after being turned down 

 and seen in company with the wild cock for some 

 days she was unfortunately found dead in a ditch ; 

 the male then disappeared and was not again heard 

 of. An experiment has now been commenced under 

 conditions promising at least a chance of better 

 success. Sixteen birds have been imported and have 

 been accorded full measure of care and hospitality on 

 a large estate on the borders of Suffolk, where they 

 will receive ample protection within the limits of an 

 area of some 50,000 acres, owned by good sports- 

 men with a friendly interest in natural history. When 

 these birds arrived I clearly explained in a short letter 

 to the local papers that this importation was due to 

 the public-spirited enterprise of an English gentle- 

 man resident abroad, and I must entirely disclaim 

 any personal credit for what has been done. Con- 

 trary to the inference drawn or implied by the 

 writers of several newspaper articles which have lately 

 appeared, I had nothing whatever to do with the 

 matter until my advice was asked in what particular 

 locality the best chance of success could be secured, 

 when I made certain suggestions which have since 

 been followed. The first shipment of sixteen birds 

 arrived safely, and up to the time of writing one only 

 of their number has died through an unavoidable 

 accident. The wing-feathers were cut to insure 

 safety of transport, and the time has therefore not yet 

 arrived when they will be completely at liberty to fly 

 when and where they please. 



In the meanwhile they have become very tame, 

 but before they re-acquire the power of flight they 

 will enjoy a run of some 800 acres of open land 



within the precincts of low wire-netting. It is a 

 curious coincidence that, in selecting a place where 

 the surrounding conditions would be favourable to 

 their liberty, I quite accidentally hit upon the very 

 land on which the last breeding-colony of Great 

 Bustards is known to have existed in England. I am 

 credibly informed that some of the oldest residents in 

 the district remember a flock of about forty and can 

 still tell of the manner in which they were approached 

 and killed by men engaged in agricultural work carry- 

 ing a gun behind their horses. No small induce- 

 ment to their destruction must have been found in 

 the quantity of meat of excellent flavour afforded by 

 these large birds. Although the Great Bustard is 

 perhaps equally partial to open heaths and large tracts 

 of cultivated land, it is almost exclusively a feeder on 

 green food. So far as my experience goes, farmers 

 need not anticipate any damage to their crops ; at 

 the most perhaps the ordinary grass diet may be 

 varied by some picking at turnip-tops, but for many 

 years to come no considerable increase in numbers 

 can be anticipated, and the killing of a few more wood- 

 pigeons would probably more than compensate any 

 loss that could possibly be sustained through extending 

 friendly hospitality to the pioneers of our returning 

 pilgrims. 



For some time this small drove remained in 

 the neighbourhood of Elveden, but it rapidly 

 diminished in numbers until but a single pair 

 remained. For two successive seasons this 

 pair has nested, yet the eggs have not been 

 hatched and examination proved that they were 

 infertile. In 1904 the failure of the eggs to 

 hatch was ascribed to the bird being disturbed 

 while sitting, but last year (1905) the nest was 

 formed in the centre of a large field, the crop 

 thereon left uncut, and no one allowed to ven- 

 ture into it ; notwithstanding these precautions, 

 nothing resulted. At the spot where the bus- 

 tards were liberated, a large surrounding area be- 

 longs to two or three keen sportsmen, among 

 them being Lord Iveagh, Lord Cadogan, the 

 Duke of Grafton, Sir H. Bunbury, and the Mar- 

 quis of Bristol, and it was thought the combined 

 estates of these owners would prove an area be- 

 yond which the bustards would not ramble. 

 However, the birds have disappeared one by one, 

 and there is no doubt the majority have been 

 shot or otherwise killed at a considerable distance. 



Professor Babington, in his catalogue of the 

 'Birds of Suffolk' (1884), says an attempt was 

 made about 1866 to introduce the red grouse 

 into Suffolk. Four were turned out at Butley 

 Abbey Farm, belonging to Lord Rendlesham. 

 It was also turned down at Elveden by the Ma- 

 harajah Duleep Singh. In two successive years 

 (1864 and 1865) the Maharajah had a quantity 

 of grouse brought from his Scotch moor, Gran- 

 tully, Perthshire, and turned down at Elveden, 

 but the experiment proved a complete failure. 

 He attributed it to lack of water. His highness 

 also in 1865 tried capercailzie and blackgame 

 with a like result. In 1878 he obtained some 

 capercailzie eggs from Scotland, and made a 

 second attempt. The eggs hatched out well - f 



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