THE GREAT BUSTARD. 
Otis tarda. 
Plate XLV. 
It is greatly to be regretted that the recent progress in agriculture has so altered the former haunts of the 
Bustard, one of the most striking species belonging to the aboriginal Fauna of Great Britain, that this noble 
bird can now no longer be said to exist in a wild state on our wolds and plains, of which it was within the 
memory of man the most striking ornament. The most recent instances of its capture in this country are 
either those of imported birds escaped from confinement, or of stragglers from the localities on the Continent 
where the species still lingers. 
The birds which supply the Menagerie of the Society have been generally reared from the nest in Eastern 
Germany, where considerable numbers are still found in the open plains. It is quite possible that in a suitable 
locality, and under sufficiently natural conditions, the Bustard might be managed with sufficient success to 
secure its breeding in captivity, as a first step towards its domestication. But, although great pains have been 
taken with the examples under the Society’s care and elsewhere, there has, as yet, we believe, been no instance 
of this having been effected. The birds have, nevertheless, been preserved in good health in the Gardens in 
Regent’s Park; and the males, at the approach of the breeding season, sometimes exhibit themselves in the 
most singular attitudes. These have been admirably caught by Mr. Wolf, and are pourtrayed in the accom¬ 
panying drawing, which is, I believe, the first published record of these grotesque postures. 
