454 STRUTHIONUm 



killed. Very early in the same year, 1839, one specimen 

 was killed at Boy thorp, Sledmere Wolds, near Scar- 

 borough, of which Mr. Hawkridge sent me notice. Mr. 

 Selby has recorded two instances of the occurrence of this 

 rare bird in Northumberland, which becomes still more 

 rare on proceeding northward, and T. M. Grant, Esq., of 

 Edinburgh, has supplied me with a notice of one killed 

 near Montrose, in December, 1833, which is the only one, 

 I am aware of, that has been killed in Scotland. A fine 

 specimen of a female of the Little Bustard was shot at 

 Bilsley, near Alford, Lincolnshire, early in the month of 

 January in the present year, 1856. Professor Nilsson 

 ranks the Little Bustard among the rarest of the occasional 

 stragglers to Sweden. It has been recorded as killed in 

 Lapland, on the authority of Acerbi, but Acerbi's de- 

 scription proves that his bird was the Wood Grouse.* 



Four examples of the Little Bustard were obtained 

 during the winter of 1853. Zoologist for 1854, pp. 4253-4. 



Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says that the Little 

 Bustard is frequent in the southern and south-western parts 

 of Russia, migrating in small flocks, and is found also on 

 the deserts of Tartary. It is a rare bird in Germany, more 

 common in France, and is found in Spain, Provence, Sar- 

 dinia, Italy, and Sicily. It is found in North Africa, 

 Turkey, and Greece. Specimens of the Little Bustard 

 have been sent to the Zoological Society from Erzeroum 

 by Keith Abbott, Esq., and by Messrs. Dickson and Ross ; 

 the latter gentlemen in their notes state that this bird is 

 very common in ploughed fields on the skirts of the marsh. 

 M. Menetries, in his Catalogue, observes, that this species 

 is very common at the foot of Mount Caucasus, and par- 

 ticularly so toward the shores of the Caspian Seas. Near 

 Baiku, this author says, I saw in December immense flocks 



* Travels through Sweden, Finland, and Lapland, vol. ii. page 229. 



