96 GREAT BUSTARD. 



or 1817, the late James Dowker, Esq., of North Dalton, killed a right and left shot, 

 and also a third one in turnips, on the farm now occupied hy myself. A nest was also 

 found forsaken, with only one egg, which is to be seen at the Scarborough Museum. 

 One of these birds was presented to George the Fourth, through Dr. Blomburgh." 



One was seen on Salisbury Plain by G. R. Waterhouse, Esq. on August 9th., 1849: 

 it was very shy. 



The last Bustard but one, as far as we are aware, which has occurred in England, is 

 in the collection of Dr. Plomley, of Maidstone. The following is his record in the 

 "Zoologist:" — "I have been fortunate enough to obtain that almost extinct bird in 

 England, the Great Bustard, which was shot at Lydd, in Romney Marsh, on January 

 4th., 1850. The man who shot it, informs me that he had in his garden a wounded 

 Wild Goose, and that the Bustard, (which he supposed to be a Goose also,) had been 

 seen several times, by himself and others, steadily flying over his garden, and that on 

 the morning of January 4th., as he was standing at his back-door, he saw the bird at 

 a distance flying direct to him ; he immediately stepped into his house, got his gun, and 

 killed the bird as it was passing over his wounded Goose. I believe this to be the only 

 instance of its being killed in Kent; but from the information I obtained during the 

 many years of my residence in Romney Marsh, I think the Great Bustard was not un- 

 common formerly in that locality. My specimen is a female, and in beautiful plumage. 

 It measures from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail, two feet six inches and 

 a quarter; across the breast, with the wings closed, ten inches and a half; from the 

 extremity of one wing to the other, when expanded, five feet and a half. The crop 

 contained a quantity of vegetable matter, principally sea-kale." 



The occurrence of the Great Bustard in Devonshire, comparatively recently, is thus 

 recorded by John Gatcombe, Esq., of Plymouth, in "The Naturalist" for February, 1852. 

 He says, "On Saturday last I was much interested in examining, at the house of Mr. 

 Drew, Taxidermist, Stonehouse, a fine specimen of the Great Bustard, sent to him, for 

 preservation, by J. G. Newton, Esq., Millaton Bridestow, Devon, with a note stating it 

 was shot some days previously, (on December 31st., 1851.) The bird being perfectly 

 fresh, and Mr. Drew having only just completed the operation of skinning it when I 

 called, I had the opportunity of ascertaining the sex, and examining the contents of its 

 stomach. It proved a female, and the stomach contained a large quantity of turnip leaves, 

 mixed with several flat flinty stones about the size of a sixpence. The base of the feathers 

 on the breast and back were of a beautiful rose-colour." 



N. S. Hodson, Esq., of Bury St. Edmunds, Avriting in Loudon's "Magazine of Natural 

 History," in 1833, says, "This bird formerly was frequently seen at Icklingham, in 

 Suffolk; Brandon Heath, and the open fields of Norfolk; but has not been observed in 

 the first place for some years. The last seen there was a hen Bustard, sitting on six 



