Great Bustard. 359 



lips, and obligingly communicated to me by Mr. W. H. Rowland, 

 of Hungerford, who afterwards purchased the bird : ' I was going 

 to Starve-all Farm with my brother's dinner about twelve o'clock, 

 and passing along the edge of a field of turnips I saw a great red 

 bird laid down and fluttering away ; he was close to the side 

 of the turnips, and as I went up to him he tried to flutter away. 

 Then he came at me and bit my fingers, but did not hurt me 

 much ; and as he put out his great wings, I caught hold of one 

 and dragged him along, pretty near a quarter of a mile, up to 

 "Starve-all," where a man broke his neck. The bird was not 

 dirty when I first saw him, but I made him so pulling him 

 along the field ; he made a terrible row with his wings on the 

 barn floor, after his neck was broken. One of the men put the 

 bird on my back, and I held his head in my hand, and carried 

 him home to mother ; he was main heavy, and I couldn't scarce 

 get along with him.' So far we have the account of the brave 

 little captor of this Great Bustard, but it appears farther that 

 there was a council of war held over the bird (when the boy first 

 took it into the barn alive) by all the labourers, who were just at 

 that time assembled at dinner, and it was very nearly decided to 

 pick it and dress it then and there, but the boy's brother claimed 

 it for him, so one of the men killed it, that the boy might carry it 

 home better. Later in the day, as two young men out shooting 

 passed her cottage, the mother of the young Bustard-catcher 

 invited them to come in and see what a bird she had got, when 

 one of them offered her sixpence for it, then eightpence, and 

 ultimately bought it for one shilling, with the promise that the 

 woman should have the carcase after the bird was skinned; 

 but its purchase by Mr. Rowland prevented the fulfilment of 

 that part of the bargain. The dragging across the field by the 

 boy, and the rough handling of the man at the barn seriously 

 injured its feathers, but owing to the care and skill of Mr. Lead- 

 beater, its deficiencies were cleverly repaired, and it was pro- 

 nounced by Mr. Yarrell, who examined it, a good specimen. The 

 latter gentleman was extremely anxious to procure the neck for 

 dissection, that he might satisfy himself in regard to the gular 



