CHAPTER XIV 

 BUSTARDS 



Great bustard— Former plenty in Britain — A notable bag — Distribution 

 of this bird — Curious sporting method in Spain — Weight of great 

 bustard — Former prices — Little bustard — Curious display during 

 courting season — The paauw — Singular encounter — Captures in 

 Wiltshire — Failure of essays in domestication — Lord Walsingham's 

 attempts at reintroduction — Causes of failure — The murderous gunner 

 — Rarity in Ireland — Recent occurrences — Bustards of the world — In 

 South Africa — The paauw and its habits. 



THE great bustard, which, up to the beginning of 

 the last century, was a familiar English game-bird, 

 has become long since extinct in Britain, and the 

 occurrences of the few visitors that now reach us are 

 extremely rare. In the days when these birds bred in 

 this country they seem to have afforded plenty of sport 

 to our ancestors. The younger birds were frequently 

 coursed with swift greyhounds, and upon the great 

 wolds and open heaths, such as bustards love to 

 frequent, the chase seems to have been a very exciting 

 one. As the open country became enclosed and cul- 

 tivated, and as improved firearms came into use, the 

 decline of the great bustard set in. That decline has 

 steadily advanced until Great Britain now knows the 

 indigenous bustard no more, while the rare stragglers 

 that reach our shores are ruthlessly slain within a few 

 days of their arrival. 



Yet, up to the year 1810, and even later, these noble 

 birds must have still been fairly common. It is certain 

 that up till that time they were occasionally shot by the 



109 



