114 OTIS. 



R A SORES. OTIS. 



PLATE CLIX. 



GREAT BUSTARD. 



OTIS TARDA. 



The Great Bustard used formerly to be a common bird in 

 England, but the increased population, and consequently the 

 extended cultivation of waste lands, have not only diminished 

 the number of this fine species, but it is even feared that not 

 a single bird is alive at the present time in a natural state, in 

 Great Britain. 



According to Colonel Montagu, a very favourite haunt of 

 the Great Bustard was the Druidical monument of Stone 

 Henge, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire ; although for many 

 years (ever since 1810) not a bird of the kind had been seen 

 or heard of there. Whether there are some few of the 

 species remaining in Norfolk is not very well known, and 

 we may consider it to be very doubtful. 



It is a very great pity that so fine a species of game-bird 

 as the Great Bustard is lost. The bird itself used to be an 

 ornament to the landscape, as well as a valuable acquisition 

 for the table ; and the manner of hunting the young, before 

 they had the full use of their wings, was so different from the 

 mode of obtaining any other birds, that the extinction of them 

 is felt manifold. 



The Great Bustard is an inhabitant of the moderate climes 

 of the old world, central Russia, Germany, Italy, France, and 



