346 ON THE OCCUEEENCE OF A EtrFFED-BI/STABD. 



throat and beak when it was examined. The day was 

 very misty, and on being approached, about noon, it squatted 

 close to the ground at first, and then rose straight up, when it 

 was easily shot, indeed, it was severely shot on the left side of 

 the head and shoulder. It was sent to Mr. Pearce Coupe for 

 preservation, and he not only identified it immediately as a 

 specimen of Macqueen's Bustard but has also cai-efully set it up, 

 taking as his guide the figure given in Morris' British Birds. 

 The body of the bird was cooked and eaten ; those who partook 

 of it pronounce that the flesh was savoury but rather tough. 

 The bones of the body and neck were saved and carefully eleaned 

 and have been presented to the Newcastle Museum by Mr. 

 Coupe.^'" 



I am indebted to Mr. Pearce Coupe, of Marske-by-the-Sea, 

 the taxidermist who preserved and correctly identified the bird 

 for the early information of the occurrence of this individual at 

 Marske, for all the local details respecting it, and also for 

 negotiating the purchase of it for the Museum of the Natural 

 History Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



The height of the bird when standing erect would be about 

 22 inches; in the position it is now stuffed, 20 inches. Total 

 length of the body from the beak to the end of the central tail 

 feather about 26 inches. Length of wing from shoulder to tip 

 of the longest primary, 16 inches. Neck about 6 inches. Tail 

 about 7^ inches. Bill, dark-greenish or horn colour, If inches ; 

 to end of gape, 2^ inches in length. Culmen, If inches. 

 Tarsus, 4 inches, pale yellowish olive-green» 



The crest is rather small, with the undermost, long, slightly 



* The substance of the ahove paragraph was published in the Yorkshire Naturalist 

 for Dec , 1892, and the " Zoologist" for Jan., 1893, but it seems adyisable to add to 

 this the fact that this bird was seen when just killed by more than a dozen people, two 

 or three of whom on the next day eat part of its body. The bones of the body, nock, 

 humeri and femora were then carefully cleaned and were presented, as stated above, 

 to the Newcastle Museum. Several feathers of the bird were sent to me, which were 

 not fully grown, and contained fresh coagulated blood still in the imperfect quills, on 

 the evidence of which and the fresh bones of the body the bird was negotiated for. Mr. 

 Coupe justly remarked that the only question which could arise in his mind was. Had 

 the bird escaped from an aviary ? The fresh and uninjured state of the plumage was 

 entirely against this supposition, and tho only conclusion wo can arrive at from the 

 above evidence is, that it was a f realily-arrivod, wild bird from the Continent of Europe, 



