INTRODUCTION. Ixiii 



Costessey, with its beautiful park and woods, bounded 

 by heathery hills on the one side and the rough marshy 

 borders of the Wensum on the other, now boasts, with 

 the exception of the one before mentioned at Didlington, 

 of the only Heronry remaining in Norfolk. This small 

 remnant of a once thriving colony — whose various 

 wanderings since their expulsion from Acle wood (cut 

 down about the year 1810), will be fully detailed else- 

 where — have but recently migrated from Earlham, in 

 the same neighbourhood, to their present quarters. 

 Here, it is to be hoped, if not, as hitherto, molested 

 by the Rooks, and under the protection of the noble 

 proprietor of the estate, this much persecuted race may 

 yet "increase and multiply." It is impossible not to 

 mourn the fate of the gallant Falcon, which, once petted 

 by Kings and Princes is now classed in the list of feathered 

 " vermin " ; but still a something of its former glory 

 attaches to the Heron, and the sight of the great bird 

 returning with laboured flight from some distant stream, 

 never fails to recall the time-honoured associations which 

 inseparably connect the "Hawk and the Harnsey." 

 How different the prestige of both these birds, when, in 

 August, 1578, Queen Ehzabeth, leaving Norwich "by 

 St. Bennet's-gates went towards Cossey-Pai-k to hunt," 

 and when, ' in 1866, the heir apparent to the throne 

 paid a Royal visit to the same estate. At the former 

 date, although we find no record as to hawking parties, 

 there is little doubt that Herons graced the board, 

 being in those days esteemed a "dainty dish to set 

 before the Queen;" whilst even the hospitality of the 

 noble entertainer would have been called in question 

 by the introduction of such a dish, on the last occasion. 



Amongst the larger estates in this division of the 

 county, not already referred to in the ^^ cliff" or other 

 districts, are Merton, with its venerable oaks, and 

 Rainham, Elmham, and Kimberley, with their extensive 



