372 



4 



" Be this as it may, the hen birds are asserted to have dropped eggs at random, continually, 

 as the season came round, without taking the trouble to form their usual slight nests ; and this 

 continued until the year 1838. In the month of February of that year, a female Bustard was 

 brought to the Cambridge market, where it was bought by Mr. Smith, the butler of Pembroke 

 Hall, for Mr. William Borrer, of Cowfold, Sussex, then an undergraduate of Peterhouse, in 

 whose possession it still remains; and that gentleman having taken the trouble of tracing its 

 history, ascertained that this specimen was killed at Dersingham, near Castle Rising, in Norfolk, 

 on the 28th of the preceding January. Later in the same year, 1838, another specimen, also a 

 female, was killed at Lexham, near Swaffham, and sent to Mr. Knight, of Norwich, to be pre- 

 served for the late Mr. F. W. Keppel. This bird was found, on dissection, to contain an egg 

 nearly ready for exclusion, and, when examined in the flesh by Mr. J. H. Gurney and others, 

 had the dpwn under the breast-feathers suffused with a most delicate rose-coloured tint, which, 

 according to Yarrell, was also observed in the Dersingham bird, and, if looked for, will probably 

 be found in all specimens. It may even still be open to doubt whether this was really the last 

 killed in England deserving the name of a British Bustard, since in Mr. Dowell's MS. notes I 

 find the following brief but important entry : — ' A Great Bustard was killed by Mr. Woods, of 

 Morston, about 1837, and was sent to Lord Charles Townshend.' On further inquiry, that 

 gentleman's son, Mr. W. G. Woods, writes, under date of March 20th, 1865, ' the Great Bustard 

 I took to Lord C. Townshend about twenty-four years since ; it was a female, but whether young 

 or old I don't know. I never heard of its being seen there before. It was killed in autumn.' 

 Mr. Dowell, who, I believe, made the entry in his note-book from a verbal statement of 

 Mr. Woods, gives the date of the female as 'about 1837;' Mr. W. G. Woods, however, considers 

 that it was ' about twenty-four years since ' — that is to say, from the date of his letter to me in 

 1865 — which would make it some three years later than, instead of one year prior to the Lexham 

 bird. That the former supposition is by no means impossible is further shown by a record in 

 Mr. Lubbock's 'Fauna' (published in 1845), in which that gentleman says, 'one Bustard three 

 years back was observed in the parish of Bridgham, near Harling,' a statement which Mr. Newton, 

 after much inquiry of people in that neighbourhood, is rather inclined to credit, and adds ' what- 

 ever it was, though shot at by a gentleman, the late Mr. George Montgomerie (then living in the 

 adjoining parish of Garboldisham), it was not obtained; and hence the uncertainty that exists. 

 I have met with several rumours, each apparently with an independent origin, of a Bustard 

 having been seen in Norfolk about that time (1842), so that I cannot but think there is some 

 truth at the bottom of them.' 



" Such, then, in brief, is the history of the gradual and final extinction of this noble species 

 in the eastern counties. In order, however, better to comprehend the causes which led to so 

 unfortunate a result, I have thought it desirable to collect from every available source the 

 scattered records existing of its habits, numbers, and local distribution. Yet, besides such notes 

 as have appeared from time to time in natural-history publications, there remained to be gathered 

 from the evidence of shepherds, warreners, gamekeepers, labourers, and others, still living in 

 localities where these birds had so recently existed, much valuable information ; and to this end, 

 commencing in the year 1851, Mr. Alfred Newton and his brother Mr. Edward Newton, then 

 residing at Elvedon, devoted a considerable amount of time and labour, more especially in the 



