62 Mr. Christy on Great Bustard and
pounds. Its total length was about 3 feet 9 inches, and
the utmost expanse of its wings exceeded seven feet.
So far as I am aware, there is no distinct and authentic
record of the occurrence of the Great Bustard in Essex;
but Mr. Smoothy recollects being told, many years ago, by
a very aged farm-labourer, that he had once known of a
nest here ; and there is a hamlet called Bustard Green not
far from Dunmow. Yarrell, too, mentions an advertise-
ment in the Spectator for 1712, where an estate is to be let
at Heydon, near Saffron Walden, with "woods of large
timber where there is all game, even to the pheasant
and bustard." The probability is that in its time
the bustard was not a very rare bird here ; but I should
not imagine that it was ever abundant. Our county has
not now, nor has it had for a very long time past, those
large open and uncultivated tracts of land which form the
strongholds of this species.
A report reached Mr. Smoothy that Mr. Wiseman, of
Paglesham, had a bustard lately killed there, but on in-
vestigation it turned out to be a continental specimen.
The interest, however, does not cease with our specimen,
for it appears that, early this winter, several were seen
in the Channel Islands; and, I believe, on the very
same day the Woodham specimen was killed one was
observed in Cornwall, and some days later was caught by a
dog, but it turned out to be a very weak bird, bearing old
wounds.
I do not pretend to have wisdom sufficient to explain
the fact of the occurrence of the Great Bustard once more
in this country; but if my opinion were asked, I should
say the only reasonable supposition is that the weather in
France, which was sharper even than with us in this
country, disturbed and drove them to seek refuge elsewhere,
and that a few wandered to our shores.*
* I have heard of the occurrence of another bustard, not actually
in Essex, but just over the county border, at West Wickham, in
Cambridgeshire. This bird, during the first days of last February,
frequented a large turnip-field on the farm of Mr. William Jonas,
who made several ineffectual attempts to shoot it. It was, however