PREFACE. 



The extreme ricliness of tlie Ornithology of the county 

 appears to have early attracted the notice of Norfolk 

 naturalists, and fortunately the records of their observa- 

 tions are to a great extent preserved to us, though scattered 

 amongst the "Transactions" of Learned Societies, and other 

 publications, not always accessible to the general reader. 

 To combine a resume of the facts thus handed down to 

 us, with the result of personal observations extending 

 over several years, was the idea that first originated the 

 present work ; and there is, perhaps, no better motive 

 for incurring the labours and doubtful honours of author- 

 ship than the desire to supply to others a want that has 

 been personally experienced. 



Chronologically arranged, the sources from whence my 

 materials have been chiefly collected, are as follow : — 



" Extracts from the Household and Privy Purse Accounts 



of the L estranges, of Hunstanton, from 1519 to 



1578." [PubHshed by D. Gurney, Esq., in the 



Transactions of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 



for 1833.] 



That the "items" in this "private ledger" would 



assume, in after years, a literary importance, was of course, 



never contemplated by its compilers, but from many of its 



quaint entries an insight is obtained, not only into the 



