210 REV. J. G. TUCK ON THE GREAT BUSTARD IN SUFFOLK. 
fen-mud and blood, that it was thought unadvisable to keep it for 
more than two nights without skinning and cleaning it. From 
the shot marks visible in the skin it was easy to imagine that 
considerable cleaning had been required, as the bird had been first 
winged, then chased, and finally shot in the neck at a short 
distance. One or two fenmen saw it in Mr. Howlett’s possession, 
and were greatly perplexed as to what it might be ; one suggested 
a Stork, another a Bittern. 
The body had been cooked, and Mr. Howlett very kindly invited 
me to taste it, adding that probably I should never taste another 
Bustard shot in the county. In colour and taste the flesh 
reminded me of Welsh mutton. On the day the letter appeared 
in ‘ The Standard ’ over- one hundred callers came to see the bird, 
and the number of letters received has been very large ; offers to 
purchase it have been numerous ; and at least one would-be 
possessor has offered a sum which would purchase a good carriage- 
horse, but the owner has not yet decided to part with his prize. 
Like the other four Great Bustards recorded in ‘The Field’ as 
obtained during this winter in Essex, Hampshire, Sussex, and 
Norfolk, this example was a hen bird; but the weight recorded in 
‘The Standard’ (IS lbs.) was a mistake in the printing, it should 
be 13 lbs. It is many years since a Great Bustard was obtained 
in the county, possibly not since the indigenous race disappeared. 
I)r. Babington in His ‘Birds of Suffolk’ (pp. 112, 113) mentions a 
Bustard said to have been shot at Norton about 1850, and presented 
to the Queen. With regard to this bird, Mr. Southwell writes me 
that Mr. Bilson, of Bury, remembers seeing it at Clarke’s, the Bury 
fishmonger, in Abbeygate street, to whom the landlord of the Norton 
“ Dog” had sent it to be packed and forwarded as a present to the 
Queen ; and that it certainly was not a Bustard, but “ a Turkey 
gone wild,” and he was amused at the idea of sending such a 
present to Her Majesty. I have not the least doubt that Mr. Bilson, 
who was well acquainted with Bustards, was perfectly correct 
in what he says. Norton joins our parish, and my father, then 
in the prime of life and a keen sportsman, shot up to the Norton 
boundary; I never heard him mention the circumstance, nor is there 
any note in his ‘ Yarrell.’ Moreover the gentleman on whose 
authority the occurrence is mentioned did not come to reside 
in the neighbourhood till 1855. In conclusion, I may add that 
