BIRDS. 67 



her husband (who was vicar of Relghton, and died in 

 1834) were invited to dine at Boynton Hall with Sir Wm. 

 Strickland, the principal dish being a Great Bustard, which 

 Sir William in his note of invitation described as probably 

 the 'last of his race.' Sir Charles Anderson believes the 

 existence of the Great Bustard in Yorkshire ceased in 

 1832 or 1833, when the last hen bird was trapped on Sir 

 W. Strickland's estate at Boynton, near Bridlington. 



Mr. Arthur Strickland, in the account which he furnished 

 to Mr. Allis in 1844, said that it used to be a constant 

 resident on the extensive wolds in the East Riding, but that 

 from the extension of tillage and the numerous enclosures 

 which had taken place during the half century, and from the 

 introduction of artificial crops, particularly saintfoin and 

 clover — which from being early cut often led to their 

 destruction — they rapidly decreased, and had then been for 

 some years quite extinct. About thirty years before [/.<?., 

 1 8 14], when he first knew the district, the flock frequent- 

 ing the part of the Wolds near Bridhngton was reduced to 

 five or six, and appeared to remain at that standing for 

 some time, and he not unfrequently met with it when 

 riding about. It, however, soon became reduced, and it 

 was about fifteen years before [i.e., 1829] that the last was 

 killed at Reighton, since which none had been seen in the 

 neighbourhood. He believed those frequenting the Wolds 

 south of Driffield remained in existence some years longer, 

 but were then — at the time of his writing — totally extermi- 

 nated. 



In this last and somewhat off-hand statement, which he 

 does not substantiate, I am of opinion that Mr. Strickland 

 was mistaken, for, judging from the evidence which I am 

 able to quote, the birds on the north Wolds certainly 

 existed a few years later than those in the south. 



The last Bustards which frequented the southern portion 

 of the Wolds were in the vicinity of North and South 

 Dalton. There is an egg — the only Yorkshire one known 

 to exist — in the Scarborough Museum, the note attached 

 to which states that it was found by Mr. James Dowker, at 

 North Dalton, in the East Riding, in 18 10. This was pre- 

 sented to the Museum in March, 1840, by Dr. John Bury 

 (Fielden, Zool., 1870, p. 2063). Mr. John Wolley, the 

 eminent oologist, who saw the egg in 1843 and in 1850, 

 noted in his egg-book that it had been ' boiled with the 

 notion of preserving it ' and was of ' bad colour ' (Fielden, 



