GREAT BUSTARDS. 



(May 10, 1890.) 



FOUR great bustards (Otis tar da), purchased 

 April 11, are among the recent additions to the 

 menagerie which will be of general interest. 

 These birds, all of them males, have been received 

 in splendid health and plumage, and certainly do 

 credit ' to those who had charge of their travelling 

 arrangements. They are confined in one of the 

 inclosures opposite to the Monkey -house, among 

 the cranes, where they have room to move about 

 and show themselves, and can be easily observed. 



The great bustard, though formerly fairly 

 plentiful in this country, is now unfortunately 

 only an occasional visitor, as, like many other 

 members of our native fauna, it has fallen a victim 

 to increasing population and advancing civilisation, 

 with the consequent extension of cultivated land 

 and improved methods of agriculture, or, in the 

 words of a writer in the early part of the century, 

 " the increased cultivation of the country and the 

 extreme delicacy of the flesh occasioned great 

 havock with this species." It is essentially a bird 

 of the plains and downs, delighting in open country, 

 and was formerly found in considerable number on 



