i86



Mr. Aubyn Trevor-Battye,



male bird came. He was extremely weak and in very poor con¬

dition. From the first he would never go to the bowl for food,

though he would take from the fingers pellets of poultry food and

barley meal, but often I had to make much demonstration in

front of his face before he would open his mouth.


The enclosure was full of weeds, such as hawkweed, which

others have found that Bustards like, and a fresh cabbage was

always kept for them, tightly fastened down so that they could, if

they so chose, pull at it satisfactorily. For a long while, however,

they would not touch green food, but were absolutely ravenous

for mice. Unfortunately after two years of vole plague our voles

and garden mice had become so scarce that there was great

difficulty in supplying their wants. So I had to initiate a Parcel

Post Mouse Service with farms that lay at a distance, and

regularly each morning the little boxes containing two dozen

came in with the letters. The price at first was4d. the dozen, but

later rose to 6d. To give an idea of a Bustard’s mouse capacity I

may say that one day following a “ sheening ” (this is Hampshire

for a threshing) the school children kept coming with little

bundles of mice till the mice totalled 150 ; yet the three birds

polished them all off while still quite fresh, and this in the hottest

weather. The diet was varied with nestling Sparrows, but mice

they liked best. At no time would they eat any cut up rat or

mole. Given a small and tender rat about the size of a field

mouse they would eat it, but cut up pieces they would only pick

up and drop again, sometimes making a half angry, half fearful

noise as they did so. The sight of blood is evidently disturbing

to a bird which never breaks up its food, but bolts it whole.


I had forgotten to say that at first the birds ate a great

many earthworms. The smaller worms they swallowed at once,

but the very largest lob worms they would first pinch, and would

occasionally shake one violently from side to side, holding it by

the head, and sometimes barking at it. I used to think they

took these big worms for snakes. Yet they never caught a

grass snake who lived in this enclosure. Under a secondary

bank was some thorn and bracken in which Quails and

Partridges nested. Here four years running a Willow Wren

brought off her young. This summer the snake took one of the



