THE SHOVELER. ] 35 



ornitliology, they would scarcely have doubted whether 

 the Shoveler nested in England, and the fact of its being 

 still a resident in, as well as a migratory visitant to, 

 this county, may fairly lead to the conclusion that in 

 the palmy days of the decoy system and long ante- 

 cedent to their introduction, this species bred plenti- 

 fully in our then un-reclaimed marshes. 



From the commencement of the present century at 

 least, our local records'^ supply ample proof of the shoveler 



* If the term " popeler " was really applied, in olden times, 

 to the shoveler duck, as stated by Mr. Albert Way in the Camden 

 Society's edition of the " Promptorium parvulorum" (Tom. ii., 1851), 

 the earliest record of its occurrence in Norfolk is contained in 

 the following brief entries in the " Household and Privy Purse 

 Accounts" of the Lestranges, of Hunstanton, for the year 1533 : — • 

 " Itm iij popelers of store," " Itm v herns and a popeler of store" ; 

 articles of " store," as I have elsewhere stated, being supposed to 

 represent the produce of the home farm or provisions previously 

 purchased, whilst articles of " gyst " were undoubtedly given in lieu 

 of rent. It is noticeable, however, that in no case is any jjrice put 

 to articles of " store " or " gyst," whether poultry and pigs from the 

 farm, or cranes and plovers from the surrounding marshes ; and 

 thus in two separate entries we find the following strange mixture 

 of edibles : — " Itm a Goos, a Pygge, a Crane, iiij Conyes, and a loyn 

 of veils of Gyst." " Itm a Goos, iij Malards, ij Telys, and iij Conyes 

 of store." I see no reason, therefore, to suppose that the popelers 

 (whatever they may have been) were semi-domesticated birds, but 

 as wild as the mallards, the bustard, the crane, and the hernsewe, 

 all specially mentioned as " kylled wt ye crosbowe," and like them, 

 no doubt, brought in by the fowler on the estate who, with the 

 falconer, is frequently mentioned in the " Accounts." As these two 

 " Itms," also, occur in the fifth and sixth weeks afler the 29th day of 

 March in that year (according to the accountant's method of reckon- 

 ing), we may fix the date as early in. May, the very mouth when the 

 two " spowys" (whimbrel) received of " gyste," at the same time, 

 would be passing northwards to breed, as the " May bird " of the 

 Blakeney and Breydon gunners does to this day. 



As to the identity between the word popeler and shoveler, Mr. 

 Alfred Newton has kindly supplied me with the following note: — 



