The Zoologist — April, 1870. 2103 



Great Bustards on the Yorkshire Wulds.— The great bustard said to have been 



killed by the Scarborough bounds iu ibe autumn of 1816, I have since been informed, 



on the authority of a genlleman now living, and who was with the hunt at the time, 



was not killed by the hounds, but taken up alive by the huntsman in a turnip-field, 



having been wounded, it was supposed, by a gamekeeper a short time before. The 



field iu which the bustard was taken is on a farm near the village of Hunmanby, and 



known as Hunmanby Field, about nine miles from Scarborough. Mr. Williamson, 



I find, is mistaken in supposing the egg in the Scarborough Museum was found on 



the same moor, and in the same year, as this bird; and when he kindly gave me the 



information communicated in my former note (S. S. 2063) respecting it, had probably 



forgotten the note iu the Museum referred to by Captain Feilden, and which doubtless 



affords the best data, premising it was penned in March, 1840, at a time when the 



facts were comparatively fresh in the memory of the presenter and chronicler, 



Dr. John Bury. One of the two great bustards shot by Mr. James Dowker at North 



Dalton (mis-spelt "Salton" in my former notice) in 1810, was given by him to 



Dr. Bury, who presented it to the Prince Regent (George IV.): the other bird 



Mr. Dowker had cooked, and the year previous to that— uiz. in 1809— five bustards 



were seen on the same moor, but were very wild, and none shot. At Rye, a few days 



ago, I was shown an old lithographed drawing, nicely executed, of the late 



Rev. R. Hamond's case of bustards: the male bird is in the centre, his wings slightly 



raised, with a female on each side, one represented feeding, and in the fore ground, 



near some tufts of grass, the two eggs and " little prince" are seen. On the back of 



the picture, in manuscript, I read the following account of it : — " This is a correct 



representation of a case of the large bustard (Olis tarda, Linn.), containing one 



male, two females, one young one, and a couple of eggs, which were shot and 



preserved by the Reverend Robert Hamond, a. d. 1820, and are now in his collection 



at Swaffham, Norfolk.— Hastings, May 1st, 1831." The naturalist in whose house 



I saw the drawing told me that, about the time the Bridlington specimen occurred, 



a male bustard was shot near Lydd, in Romney Marsh.— id/win S. Bell; Clive 



House, Hastings. 



Rvffin Somersetshire. — A ruff was killed on Sedge Moor, at the end of last week, 

 and given to me by Mr. Scarlett, of Taunton, to whom it had been sent with some 

 plovers. There was no appearance of any ruff, but some of the feathers on the body 

 were already assuming a brighter colour.— Ce«7 Smith; Lydeard House, near 

 Taunton, March 3, 1870. 



Ruff in Norfolk.— A. fine male was killed on the 25th of February, at Stalham, in 

 Norfolk.— r. E. Gunn. 



Sabine's Snipe.— Heremth I send you a specimen of Sabine's snipe, thinking it 



might be interesting to some of your numerous readers. — /. W. D. '■Field.' 



[It is singular that a genlleman should record the occurrence of so rare a bird in so 

 bald a manner, affording no clew to the country, date, sex or peculiarities of the bird, 

 or the name or residence of the recorder! I have seen the bird and find it correctly 

 named. — Edward Newman^ 



The Moa or Dinornis as Human Food. — Dr. Julius Haast, of Canterbury, New 

 Zealand, has been making a most interesting series of observations on some recently 

 discovered cooking pits or kitchen-middens of the original inhabitants of these islands. 

 The results of these investigations have been laid before the Zoological Society of 



