Little Bastard. 365 



very fast, a short distance. I pursued : it rose again and took 

 another short flight, and alighted again, ran a short way, and 

 then crouched. I pursued it again : it ran on, and then took flight 

 and swung round us at about 200 or 250 yards distance, so as to be 

 quite observable, with head outstretched. I have no doubt they 

 were a pair of Lesser Bustards. I have looked at the plates in 

 Bewick and Yarrell, and they correspond most closely especially 

 the latter with the appearance of the one we followed. Its size 

 and flight, as described by McGillivray, correspond exactly with 

 our observation: the size that of a large pheasant, or say a 

 blackcock ; the flight peculiar, with neck stretched out. The 

 head when the bird squatted, and the markings as it flew by, 

 were exactly like the plates. In short, apart from the evidence 

 afforded by handling them, there is the strongest proof that the 

 Lesser Bustard was on the Plain.' Mr. Bouverie is well ac- 

 quainted with the ' Great Plover ' or ' Stone Curlew/ the only 

 species with which they could be confused, and was satisfied 

 that the birds he saw were not of that species ; so that I have 

 no doubt he was correct in deciding that they were veritable 

 Little Bustards. 



Not nearly so conclusive is another notice of its occurrence 

 with which the Kev. A. P. Morres furnished me ; for as its 

 authenticity rests on an anonymous contribution to a local 

 newspaper, it can only be received with extreme caution. The 

 writer, however, certainly seems to speak with some apparent 

 acquaintance with the bird, and it is much to be regretted that 

 he so seriously impaired the value of his information by with- 

 holding the authority of his name. He says : ' Hiding on the 

 old driftway which leads from Salisbury to Everleigh, when near 

 the latter place, at the back of Sidbury Hill, on the open down, 

 I came suddenly on a pair of Bustards. I know the birds per- 

 fectly, having seen them on the plains near Casa Yischeu, half- 

 way between Cadiz and Gibraltar, in the South of Spain. There 

 are two sorts : the greater and lesser. It was a pair of the 

 Lesser Bustards I saw this day. Meeting an old man shortly 

 after, I inquired if he had ever seen such a thing. His answer 



