GREAT BUSTARD. 25 



them. I pulled the cord attached to the guns from the 

 place of ambush, and thus shot seven at one discharge. 

 Six were killed outright, and one fine old fellow had his 

 wing broken, and was, of course, soon despatched with a 

 stick I had. I remember the birds were presented by 

 Turner to the then Prince of Wales (George IV.), the 

 Duke of York, and others,* and I believe had the effect, 

 in some degree, of procuring the berth of head-game- 

 keeper at Windsor for Turner's son, where he lived till 

 his death." 



Mr. Thomas Brightwell, of Norwich, lately informed 

 me that on one occasion, when Mr. Barker lived at 

 Anmer, he and his son saw a bustard as they were 

 walking over the open "brecks" between Anmer and 

 Houghton ; and in the same locality, according to a 

 communication received through the late Lady Mid- 

 dleton, a bustard was found and fired at by Lord Henry 

 Cholmondeley when quite a young man. 



In the Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds," 

 by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, those gentlemen 

 state that " Mr. Hardy, of Norwich, has more than once 

 succeeded in domesticating this species," and through 



* In Kay's edition (1678) of Willughby's " Ornithology" occurs 

 the following passage as to the estimation in which the bustard 

 was then held for the table : " Though some discommend their 

 flesh, yet with us it is esteemed both delicate and wholesome. 

 Hence, but chiefly for its rarity, the bustard sells very dear, 

 serving only to furnish Princes and great men's tables, at feasts 

 and public entertainments." 



Dr. Bree (" Field," 1867, p. 465) mentions his having partaken 

 of a bustard in 1831, at Mr. Chad's, then British minister at Berlin, 

 who had estates in Norfolk, from whence the bird had been pro- 

 cured, (a very long way for them to be sent in those days !) and 

 most probably from some portion of the Swaffham tract, lying in 

 the direction of Thursford. It was well-tasted, something between 

 turkey and goose, " a rare union of gastronomic excellence." 



E 



