BYGONE BIRDING: A BUSTARD IN LINCOLNSHIRE

Letter from an edition of The Zoologist journal, 1848

Sir -

A short time ago, I sent a communication to The Zoologist to the effect that I had obtained a male little bustard which was shot at Kirton Lindsey.

Having since become better acquainted with the bustard family, I am convinced of my error and beg leave to correct it. 

The following is a description of a specimen in my possession. 

Length 23 inches; expanse of wing 3 feet 8 inches; weight 2lbs.

The bill is dark lead colour, compressed at the tip, depressed at the base; irides yellow.

The head and throat are rufous, mottled with black, with long loose feathers, of a slate colour, hanging over the breast.

The chin is white; back of the neck white, minutely mottled with brown;  sides of the neck are ornamented with a range of feathers two inches long, about two-thirds of the upper portion black, the lower part white.

The back and wing-coverts rufous, mottled with black, with zigzag bars of black across; quill-feathers black, extending to the end of the tail when closed; underparts white; legs lead colour. 

On inquiring of Mr. G. Hansley, from whom I received the

bird, if he could furnish any particulars respecting it, he sent me the following note.

" I shot the bird in a stubble field on Kirton Cliff. 

"I did not see it until it got up within twenty yards of me, and I cannot hear of its having been seen in the neighbourhood before.

"I feel quite sure that this bird has never been in captivity.

"Its wings and tail are in the greatest perfection, not a feather broken or dirty.

"Its craw was full of caterpillars, beetles and small snails." 

Alfred Roberts
Brigg
Lincolnshire 

January 25, 1848.

Editor's note: This bird has been purchased by Mr. T. E. Higgins, of York, and turns out to be the houbara, a well-known North-African species of the bustard family.