234 THE SWAN AND HER CREW. 



account of the appearance of a great bustard in Norfolk. 

 A gentleman there was told by one of his men that he had 

 seen a " wonderful cur'us bird like a pelican/' in a wild part of 

 the fen. The gentleman at once went to look at it, and being 

 a naturalist, he was much delighted to find that it was a bustard, 

 and observation through a telescope told him that it was a cock 

 bird. He gave strict orders that it was not to be shot, and 

 that any prowling gunner found on his land was to be con- 

 signed without ceremony to the bottom of the nearest dyke. 

 Then he sent for well-known naturalists from Cambridge and 

 elsewhere, to come an.d watch the motions of the bird. It was 

 feeding in a lonely part of the fen, in a patch of cole seed, and, 

 each man being armed with a telescope of some sort or other, 

 they had good views of it, both flying and walking. The news 

 soon spread among the naturalists of the county, and one of 

 them, who had some tame bustards in confinement, generously 

 offered to give one of them to be let loose to pair with the wild 

 cock. A female bustard was accordingly turned out into the 

 fen as near to the wild bird as they dared to venture without 

 frightening him away, and after a short time, they had the 

 pleasure of seeing the two walking about together. In a day or 

 two more the hen was found dead in a dyke. Her wings having 

 been clipped she could not fly far enough. Another female 

 was procured, but while seeking for an opportunity of turning 

 it out where the wild one could see it, the wild one flew away. It 

 was heard of afterwards in a different part of the county, and it 

 does not appear yet to have been killed, and the landowners 

 have given orders that it shall not be destroyed. I am 

 looking forward with interest for further accounts of it. 



