Great Bastard. 345 



or no ; for my own part, I incline to the belief that the old birds 

 were occasionally so taken, though perhaps this was generally in 

 drizzling or wet weather, which was certainly the time usually 

 chosen for the sport, when the birds' feathers were soaked with rain. 



As to those who hold to the opinion that neither old nor 

 young birds were ever hunted with dogs at all, they found their 

 disbelief on the supposed impossibility of the thing, and ignore 

 altogether, or treat as idle tales, the repeated accounts given by 

 the older naturalists. At the head of these sceptics stands 

 Selby, the talented author of the 'Illustrations of British 

 Ornithology,' who says the Bustard ' upon being disturbed, so far 

 from running, in preference to flight (as has been often described), 

 rises upon wing with great facility, and flies with much strength 

 and swiftness, usually to another haunt, which will sometimes be 

 at the distance of even six or seven miles. It has also been said 

 that in former days, when the species was of common occurrence, 

 it was a practice to run down the young birds (before they were 

 able to fly) with greyhounds, as affording excellent diversion ; so 

 far from this possibility existing, with respect to the present 

 remnant of the breed, the young birds, upon being alarmed, con- 

 stantly squat close to the ground, in the same manner as the 

 young of the lapwing, golden plover, etc., and in that position are 

 frequently taken by the hand.' The same opinion, though with 

 somewhat less confidence, is given by Mr. Nicholson (quoted by 

 Yarrell in his paper on the Bustard, read before the Linnsean 

 Society), who had enjoyed great opportunities of observing these 

 birds in the neighbourhood of Seville, where they abound. He 

 says, * They never try to run, one that I had winged making the 

 most absurd attempts possible to get away from me, and though 

 a young bird, showing much more disposition to fight than to 

 get away by running. I cannot imagine greyhounds being able 

 to catch Bustards, though there seems to be good authority for 

 believing they did.' 



Another method of taking, or attempting to take, the Bustard 

 in ' ye olden tyme' was by means of falcons, and I am indebted to 

 Mr. James Waylen for the information that when Colonel 



