196 



out of sowing time, and in harvest time, then they feed upon 

 pure corn. In the Summer, towards the ripening of corn, 

 I have seen half a dozen of them lie in a Wheat-field fatten- 

 ing themselves (as a Deer will doe) with ease and eating. . . 

 Chuse the youngest and fattest about Allhalow tide (for 

 then they are best), and diet him a day or two . . . ; 

 then let him bleed to death in the neck veins, and having 

 hung three or four days in a cool place out of the moonshine 

 either rost or bake it as you do a Turkic, and it will prove 

 both a dainty and wholesome meat." 



Drayton (Poly-olbion, 25th Song) speaks of 



' ' The big boan'd Bustard then whose body bears that size 

 That he against the wind must runne ere he can rise." 



In the printed catalogue of the contents of the Tradescant 

 Museum, preserved at South Lambeth, in 1656, is, " The 

 Bustard, as big as a Turkey, usually taken by greyhounds 

 on Newmarket Heath " ; and Merrett, in his Pinax rerum 

 naturalium Britannicarum, in 1667, includes the Bustard as 

 taken on Newmarket Heath and about Salisbury. 



A little later the celebrated Sir Thomas Browne speaks of 

 " Bistardce or Bustards, not unfrequent in the champian 

 and fieldy part of this country [Norfolk]. A large bird, 

 accounted a dainty dish, observable in the strength of the 

 breast- bone and short heel. Lays an egg much larger than 

 a turkey." (Wilkin's Ed. iv. p. 318.) 



Willughby, in Ray's Edition of the ' Ornithology ' 

 (1678), says that " on Newmarket and Royston Heaths, in 

 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, and elsewhere in Wasts and 

 Plains, they are found with us" ; and in reference to Bustards, 

 as formerly inhabiting that part of the country, Addison's 

 Spectator, No. CCCX., for Tuesday, March 4th, 1712, con- 

 tains an advertisement, of which the following is a copy : 

 " HEYDEN in ESSEX, near WALDEN and ROYSTON, the seat of 

 Sir Peter Soame, Bart., deceased, situate on a gentle hill, with 

 a very large and pleasant prospect, fair gardens, canals, fish 



where Mr. Gatcombe saw a man with seme feathers in his hat, to one of which 

 the owner pointed with pride, saying, " This here, Sir, belonged to one of them 

 Turkey- buzzards "! (Zool. s.s. p. 2475.) 



