THE AQUATIC SPECIES. 7 



particularly in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Dorset, 

 and in various parts of Scotland, where they were 

 hunted with greyhounds, and very easily taken. 

 There may at present be some few bred in both 

 the Eastern and Western counties, but enclosure 

 and cultivation have reduced them to inconsiderable 

 numbers. Buffon was mistaken in his supposition 

 that these birds are incapable of being propagated 

 in the domestic state, chiefly on account of the 

 difficulty of providing them with proper food, which, 

 in their wild state, he describes to be heath-berries 

 and large earth-worms. Probably the HAW or white 

 thorn berry might succeed equally well. Mr. Cas- 

 tang informed me a few years since, that a person in 

 Norfolk, had, at that time, some bustards : also that 

 he had the previous year an old bustard and four 

 eggs, which he sold to Lord Stanley, and a pair of 

 bustards to the Earl of Darnley. To those who aim 

 at variety and novelty in this line, the bustard ap- 

 pears peculiarly an object for propagation and in- 

 crease, since the flesh is of unrivalled excellence, 

 and it is probable this fowl will render great weight 

 of flesh for the food consumed. Specimens of these 

 fowls may probably be found in the collection of the 

 Zoological Society, Regent's Park, London, but no 

 progress seems to have been made in the increase 

 of the breed. They are scarcely known in the Lon- 

 don markets. 



The Aquatic Species. 



The DUCK. The flesh of the duck of a savory 

 and somewhat stimulant nature, is said to afford 

 a preferable nourishment to that of the goose, 



