i io THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



of the period : " Such also is their qualitie, that if they 

 perceive their egges to have bene touched in theyr 

 absence by man's hand (which lie commonly on the bare 

 earth), they forsake those nestes and lay in other places." 



As far back as 1534 it was found advisable to afford 

 the bustard some protection, and by the passing of an 

 "Act for the Protection of Wild Fowle" (25th Henry 

 VIII.), the taking of the eggs of this bird was prohibited, 

 the maximum penalty attached to the misdemeanor 

 being 2od. for each egg. But, of course, it is one thing 

 to pass Acts of the sort and quite another thing to 

 enforce them. Had it been possible to have compelled 

 thorough obedience to the provisions of this early pro- 

 tective measure, sportsmen of to-day might not now 

 be regretting the passing of the bustard. This Act of 

 Henry VIII., if not at first a dead letter, probably soon 

 afterwards came to be little recognized, later records 

 stating that bustards' eggs were regularly gathered and 

 hatched out under hens. Towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century these eggs certainly had a high 

 marketable value, they being readily saleable at half-a- 

 guinea each. This is easily understood when we learn 

 that the young birds, long before arriving at full growth, 

 were disposed of for as much as ten guineas and, in 

 some instances, twelve guineas per pair. 



A gross error committed by a naturalist of the Tudor 

 period may also in some degree have contributed to 

 hasten the extinction of the British bustards by afford- 

 ing licence or valid excuse for their destruction. The 

 writer referred to, Dr. Thomas Muffet, solemnly states 

 that : " Bistards or bustards (so called for their slow 

 pace and heavy flying), or, as the Scots term them, 

 gusestards, that is slow geese, feed upon flesh, livers, 



