156 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



being common (grues plurim^) in Scotland (De 

 07'igine moribus et rebus gestis Scotorwn, p. 25). 



In Ireland the Crane was formerly so plentiful 

 that, according to Giraldus [Toj^og. Hibern., p. 705), 

 flocks consisting of a hundred individuals were 

 common. His words are, "In tanta vero numero- 

 sitate se grues ingerunt, ut uno in grege centum 

 et cii'citer numerum frequenter invenias." Flocks 

 were seen in Waterford and Cork in 1739. 



Sir Thomas Browne in 1667 wrote of the Crane 

 as often seen in Norfolk in hard winters. In Ray's 

 time also (1678) Cranes might be observed in num- 

 bers during the winter in the counties above named, 

 and even a century later Dr. John Hill was able to 

 state that he had seen large flocks of Cranes in Lin- 

 colnshire ("History of Animals," 1752). Under the 

 provisions of an " Act to avoide destruction of Wilde 

 Fowle," passed in the reign of Henry VIII. (1534), 

 eggs of the Crane, as well as those of the Bustard, 

 Bittern, Heron, and Shovelarde {i.e. Spoonbill), 

 were specially protected under pain of imprison- 

 ment and fine, and in the case of the Crane this 

 prohibition was in force so late as 1780, in which 

 year amongst certain Fen laws passed at Revesby 

 was one decreeing that " no person should take any 

 Swans' eggs or Cranes' eggs, or young birds of that 

 kind, on pain of forfeiting for every offence 3s. 4d." 

 (Thompson, "Hist. Boston," p. 675). At the present 

 day this bird can only be regarded as a rare visi- 

 tant in late autumn and winter. 



Amongst comparatively recent records of its 



