4 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



when the Bustards frequented here, than to run 

 them down ? This was just what was done. No 

 one visited the Bustards' haunts at that time except 

 the shepherds, who lived a half-nomad life, one that 

 was almost as wild as the birds they saw around 

 them, that they did their best to capture at times, 

 and those whose business compelled them to pass 

 along the lonely roads that ran through and over 

 the plains and heaths they frequented. 



At that time you would have been quite as likely 

 to fall in with a highwayman as you would with a 

 Bustard. The mail-coaches of course carried arms, 

 so did some of their passengers, and those, too, who 

 travelled swiftly with a carriage and four horses, on 

 business of urgent import. These haunts had a bad 

 reputation, and if all I have been able to gather is 

 true, they deserved it. Some rather unpleasant trans- 

 mitted traits yet show themselves, which would fully 

 bear out what I have hinted at. 



There was a market at that time for Bustards, 

 and a supply. Law and order, as we know them 

 now, were unknown, or if known, not regarded. 

 The forefathers of the people now scattered about 

 there would not be denied, if they thought they 

 wanted anything ; the thought was at once acted 

 on. Some places I know well where I would not 

 stop longer than I was obliged to, even now. Yet 

 if you wish to see real life you must go to wild 

 places for it. 



But you must go out of the United Kingdom if 

 you want to see the Bustard at home now, to the 



