Great Bustards

The four great bustards at The Salisbury Museum were donated by various people between 1871-1919. One of the male birds on display at the museum was recorded in a Dinton sale catalogue as being a ‘large goose’.

The museum’s hen-bird is said to be one of the last great bustards to be eaten in the town. It was served at a dinner for ten people by E T Stevens, Director of the Salisbury Museum in 1871. One of the guests described the bird as ‘extremely tender, the breast like plover, and the thigh not unlike pheasant’.