THE RETURN OF THE GREAT BUSTARD 295 



hoppers; the latter it devours with particular relish. 

 Its taste in vegetables is less to the farmer's liking. It 

 eats green corn, especially barley, clover, the leaves of 

 mallow, chick-peas, and vetches. In Norfolk its food 

 was much the same, with the substitution of turnip-tops 

 for chick-peas ; it also ate seeds of weeds and the leaves 

 of colewort and dandelion. Everyone will hope that 

 the return of the bustard will not long be delayed, and 

 that those who undertake its restoration may meet with 

 ready and willing help from their neighbours, rich and 

 poor. It is probable that it never was, and never will 

 be, very numerous as a species. But public interest is 

 alive to subjects of this kind at present, and the moment 

 is favourable for the attempt. 



