340 Struthionidce. 



of what was then the last Bustard seen in Wiltshire, and of 

 subsequently purchasing the bird for the collection of my friend 

 the Rev. G. Marsh, which specimen is now in the museum at 

 Salisbury. My attention was thus very much directed to this 

 splendid species at a period when there were many living in 

 Wiltshire who could recollect having seen it from time to time 

 on Salisbury Plain; and I sought far and wide for tidings of the 

 last stragglers noticed in Wiltshire, and, indeed, of all the history 

 and traditions that appertained to this bird, wherein, as I grate- 

 fully and proudly record, I was very much assisted by an 

 interesting correspondence upon it, with which I was favoured 

 by the late Mr. Yarrell, the talented author of our standard work 

 on ' British Birds,' who also largely aided my inquiries by furnish- 

 ing me with a quantity of printed papers and extracts upon it. 

 Thus, armed with all the information I could gain, and en- 

 couraged by so high an authority, I prepared a paper on the 

 Great Bustard, which I read before the Wiltshire Archaeological 

 and Natural History Society during its annual meeting of 1855, 

 at Warminster; and as everything connected with the Great 

 Bustard is still, and always must be, of special interest to Wilt- 

 shiremen, I propose to reproduce here the substance of that 

 paper, supplemented by an account of such further instances of 

 its occurrence in Wilts as have taken place since, thus bringing 

 its Wiltshire history down to present date. 



First, however, let me briefly describe its general aspect and 

 habits. The Great Bustard is the largest of the British land 

 birds : its bill is nearly straight, but with the point of the upper 

 mandible curved ; its legs are long and naked above the knee, 

 very muscular and strong ; its toes, three only in number, and 

 these very short, united at the base, and all directed forwards ; 

 its wings of moderate length, but also very muscular. A full- 

 grown male, if in good condition, will attain to a weight of over 

 30 lb., and will measure three feet nine inches in length. Its 

 general plumage is as follows : head and neck bluish-gray ; back 

 and tail coverts buff-orange, barred and spotted with black; 

 upper part of the breast reddish-orange, all the under parts 



