88 

 Otis tarda. 



Great Bustard. 



Thoiigli this noble bird is now nnfortunately extinct as a 

 resident, not only in Wiltshire, but throughout England, 

 it may still be reckoned an occasional straggler, occuring 

 more frequently in Wiltshire than in any other county, 

 Norfolk excepted, on account of our extensive downs, 

 where there is every reason to believe that it has been by no 

 means rare, though at the same time probably never very 

 common. In the WiUsJiire ArcJireological Magazine appeared 

 a most interesting paper on the Great Bustard, from which 

 I give the following particulars. It appears to have been 

 tolerably plentiful in Wiltshire till towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century, from which time instances of its 

 occurrence become rarer and rarer. In 1771 Dr. Brookes 

 informs us that it still bred on Salisbury plain at that time, 

 while in 1801 a nest containing two eggs was found on 

 Market Lavington down. These instances, however, 

 besides having occurred some time ago, did not occur 

 within our present limits. There is one instance, however, 

 which occurred as lat-ely as January 1856 in Savernake 

 Forest. Though I have myself conversed with the keeper 

 who shot at this bird, as I could not gain any fresh infor- 

 mation on the subject, I think it best to give the anecdote 

 as nearly as possible in the words of the paper alluded to 

 above. " Very early in January (1856) one of Lord Ailes- 

 bury's keepers, named King, seeing a large bird, which he 

 could not recognise, but supposed to be an Eagle, flying 

 over a jDart of Marlborough Forest called Henswood, fired 

 a cartridge at it, though, from the distance, he had little 



