362 Struthionidce. 



1 You will be pleased to hear of the appearance of the Bustard 

 in Wiltshire. Three were seen on Sunday last by Mr. Lywood, 

 near Shrewton, and on Monday his bird- keeper, Stephen Smith, 

 shot one of them. The bird is a female, small, but in good 

 plumage ; weight not quite 71 lb. ; length from point of beak to 

 end of tail, 31 inches ; and from tip to tip of wings, 62 inches. It 

 was shot on the Yarnborough side of the Maddington Valley, and 

 was on the wing with its companions flying about twenty yards 

 above the ground. After it fell, one of the survivors wheeled 

 round the spot, not more than fifteen yards from the man's head. 

 The crop was quite empty. The skin is now being preserved for 

 the Salisbury Museum/ A second letter from Mr. Stevens, 

 dated February 2nd, informed me that he and nine others had 

 met ' to partake of the body of this bird from curiosity, and that 

 it was pronounced extremely tender and good, the breast like 

 plover, the thigh not unlike good pheasant.' My next witness is 

 Mr. Frederick Stratton, of Gore Cross Farm, on the Lavington 

 Downs, a keen observer of birds, with whom I have from time to 

 time had ornithological correspondence. He writes under date 

 January 26th : ' Having been confined to the house for several 

 weeks in consequence of an attack of bronchitis, I ventured out 

 on horseback on Monday last, the weather having become a little 

 milder, and I saw near New Copse a bird of which I cannot refrain 

 from giving you some account, and which I have no hesitation in 

 pronouncing to be a Great Bustard. I disturbed it on the edge of 

 a piece of swedes, and it seemed to use its wings with great 

 facility, flying somewhat after the manner of the Great Plover, 

 which hereabouts is generally though erroneously called the 

 " Curlew." The wings also seemed barred with white, somewhat in 

 the same way as those of that bird, only it was ten or twelve 

 times larger. I watched it alight on the ground, after a flight of 

 seven or eight hundred yards, and while I remained in sight, 

 it seemed intent on watching my movements. I was compelled to 

 ride home quickly, as the snow had begun to fall ; but I sent 

 directly to a neighbour, and asked him to shoot it if possible ; 

 but though he was fortunate enough to see it twice, he could not 



