EXTINCTION OF BUSTARDS IN BRITAIN 119 



It was fortunate that I had not communicated 

 my experiences to any of the sporting papers, and 

 so made myself appear ridiculous. 



It is much to be regretted that both the great 

 and the little bustard have ceased to reside with 

 us, and, moreover, no longer visit this country. 

 Aplin, in his ' Birds of Oxfordshire,' states that a 

 lesser bustard was shot in a wood near Oxford in 

 1859. I also have, amongst my own notes on 

 birds, the account given me by a relative of one 

 which was shot in Tubney Wood, in Berkshire, 

 some six or seven miles from Oxford, by a friend 

 of his about that date, probably the same bird. 

 There have been, unless I am much mistaken, a 

 few instances recorded of both the great and 

 lesser bustards having been shot still more 

 recently in different parts of this country.* It 

 is commonly believed that the flight of bustards 

 is too weak to admit of their extending their 

 migrations. This is, however, an erroneous im- 

 pression, and has doubtless originated from the 

 fact that the weight of a bustard is not only very 

 great, but that it is more prone to run than 

 to get on the wing. Bustards, on the contrary, 

 are able to fly with remarkable power. Colonel 

 Campbell, in his letters from the Crimea, written 



* A considerable number of great bustards arrived in the 

 Orkneys in the winter of 1870 ; a smaller migration was noticed 

 in England during the winter 1879-80. 



Two of the smaller bustards were obtained in Ireland in 

 December, 1887. Vide Saunders' 'British Birds.' 



