BUSTARDS. 41 



Order IV. GRALLATORES. 



Fam. OTIDID^E. 



GEEAT BUSTAED. Otis tarda, Linnaeus. 



" Besides the barren ' brecks ' of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, the Great Bustard, on good authority, appears 

 in former times to have been extremely common on 

 all the open parts of this island which were suited to 

 its habits the elevated moors of Haddingtonshire 

 and Berwickshire, the desolate wolds of Yorkshire 

 and Lincolnshire, Newmarket and Royston Heaths, 

 on the borders of Cambridgeshire, together with the 

 downs of Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, South- 

 ampton, and Sussex, being all more or less frequented 

 by it; but in every one of these localities it had 

 ceased to exist before the last of the race of British 

 Bustards fell victims to the advancement of agricul- 

 tural enterprise in this (Norfolk) and the adjoining 

 county"*. It has long been extinct in Scotland ; the 

 occurrence of probably the last Scottish straggler is 

 recorded by Dr. Fleming, in his ' History of British 

 Animals,' p. 115, where he states that one was shot in 

 1803, in Moray shire. As regards Ireland, the Great 

 Bustard is included by Smith, in his ' History of 

 Cork,' as one of the birds of the County of Cork, in 

 1749 ; but if ever it was really found in Ireland it 

 has long since become extinct there. 



* Stevenson's ' Birds of Norfolk,' vol. ii. p. 2. 



