. The young sportsman's manual : or, recreations in shooting ; with some account of the game found in the British Islands, and practical directions for the management of dog and gun . ably be confined to such specimens as he shall cul-tivate an acquaintance with in a museum, a veryshort allusion to its sporting annals will suffice foihis curiosity on that head. According to old Mark-ham, a stalldng-horse was even in his day essential toenable the puisuer to accomplish a shot; and theshepherds were wont to dress out a hurdle with greenboughs, behind which the sportsman would lie inwait for his
. The young sportsman's manual : or, recreations in shooting ; with some account of the game found in the British Islands, and practical directions for the management of dog and gun . ably be confined to such specimens as he shall cul-tivate an acquaintance with in a museum, a veryshort allusion to its sporting annals will suffice foihis curiosity on that head. According to old Mark-ham, a stalldng-horse was even in his day essential toenable the puisuer to accomplish a shot; and theshepherds were wont to dress out a hurdle with greenboughs, behind which the sportsman would lie inwait for his game. From this it will be gathered,that it is very long since Bustard shooting was com-mon to our island. In the year 1800, Daniel says,there was one shot which measured six feet from thetip of one wing to the tip of the other; and threefeet from the point of the beak to the extremity ofthe tail. Buffon tells us, that one was shot inFrance, in his time, which had no less than ninety j2 114 BUSTARD SHOOTING. doubloons in its stomach. If the English bustardswere in the habit of carrying so much money aboutthem, there can be no difficulty in accounting fortheir present THE BrSTAUD. The Great Bustard [Otis Tarda);—of the familyof the Struthionidse, or Ostriches.—We must speakof this, our largest land bird, rather in the past thanin the present tense. This is one of the birds that BUSTAED SHOOTING. 115 have fled before population and agriculture. Itwas formerly seen in flocks of fifty, or more, uponextensive downs or heaths: such as Salisbury Plain,the heaths of Sussex, the Dorsetshire uplands, New-market Heath, and the like; and as far north asEast Lothian, in Scotland : but their appearance hasbecome almost a tradition. Mr. Yarrel states, thatnineteen were seen together at Westcape, in Norfolk,so late as 1819 ; and that they are carefully preservedby the proprietor. Royston Heath, Devonshire andWiltshire, Suffolk and Lincolnshire have been men-tioned as localities,
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