THOMAS MUFFETT. 267 



sowing-time, and in harvest-time, then they feed upon pure 

 corn. In the Summer towards the ripening of corn, I have 

 seen half a dozen of them lie in a wheatfield fatting themselves 

 (as a Deer will doe)* with ease and eating, whereupon they 

 grow sometimes to such a bigness, that one of them weigheth 

 almost fourteen pounds. . . 



Grues. 



Cranes breed (as old Dr. Turner writ unto Gesner)t not 

 only in the Northern Countrys amongst the Nations of Dwarfs 

 [this refers of course to the old fable of the enmity of the 

 Cranes and Pygmies] , but also in our English Fens . . . with 

 us they feed chiefly upon corn, and fenny seeds, or bents, . . . 

 Certain it is that they are of themselves hard, tough, . . . 

 unfi.t for sound men's tables. . . yet being young, killed with 

 a goshawk, and hanged two or three dales by the heels, eaten 

 with hot galantine, and drowTied in Sack, it is permitted unto 

 indijBPerent stomachs. [Truly, one cannot help pitying those 

 indifferent stomachs.] 



ClCONI^, ASTERL^, ArDEOL^. 



Storks, Bittors [i.e. Bitterns] and Herons neither do breed, nor 

 can breed any good nourishment, . . . 



Nay even all the Heronshaws, (namely the black, white, 

 criel-Heronshaw, and the mire-dromble) , though feeding some- 

 what better than the Byttor or Stork are but of a fishy and 

 strong savour. . . . 



Phasiana. 



Phesants . . . are best in winter : ... no meat so 

 w^holesom as Phesant-pouts ; but to strong stomachs it is 

 inconvenientest, especially to Ploughmen and labourers, who 

 eating of Phesants, fall suddenly into sickness and shortness 

 of breath. . . . [A kindly warning to the poachers of his day.] 



AtTAGENES MYRICiE. 



Heath-cocks ... all their flesh proves black, saving the 

 brawn next their breast-bone, which is ever white, tender, 

 firm and wholesome. 



* It is a curious coincidence that Gilbert White should have remarked, 

 ' ' Bustards when seen on the downs resemble Fallow Deer at a distance." 

 — Jesse, Gleanings in Natural History, second series, Vol. II., p. 180. 



t Conrad Gesner (1516-61), author of Historice Animalism Liber III. 

 qui est de Avium Natiira, 1555. For Turner's remarks on the breeding 

 of Cranes in England, vide 'Evans's translation, p. 97. See also 

 Vol. II., p. 10. 



