VOL. xiv] GREAT BUSTARD IN KENT. 157 



record such as this. We have no direct evidence of the 

 former existence of a drove of Bustards on any part of the 

 North Downs in Kent, though it is highly probable that such 

 existed, just as they did on the South Downs in Sussex. 

 The latter would have been the nearest locality from which a 

 Bustard could have been obtained, if it were not indigenous. 

 Taking into consideration the character of the intervening 

 country and the total absence of roads in those days it is 

 highly improbable that the bird should have been brought 

 from so great a distance. Barham Downs, within a few 

 miles of the city's gates, must have then provided miles of 

 wild and barren upland which we know was open enough to 

 have been the scene of more than one historic gathering, 

 and was the frequent camping ground of considerable armed 

 forces. What is more likely then than that it was the home 

 of an indigenous drove of Bustards, whose members furnished 

 occasional items in the banquets of the City Fathers of 

 Canterbury, 



