xviii INTRODUCTION. 



it appears to have been then a well-known bird in Scotland,^ 

 and is thus referred to by Gavin Douglas in his translation 

 of Virgil : — 



Palamedes birdis crowpand in the sky, 



Fleand on randoun, schapin lyk ane Y, 



And as an trumpit rang thare vocis soun, 



Quliais cryis bene pronosticacioun 



Of wyndy blastis and ventosities.^ 



According to Sir David Lindsay it was served at a 

 grand hunting entertainment, given by the Earl of Athol to 

 James v. of Scotland and the Queen-Mother, in Glen Tilt;^ 

 and in 1551 the Scottish Parliament fixed the price of the 

 " Cran " at " five shillinges." * 



Wild-fowl seem to have been the chief game at which 

 Falcons were flown, and many severe laws were made to pre- 

 serve them for this sport. To prevent them from being 

 killed with the gun, which was then beginning to come into 

 use for fowling, Queen Mary even punished with death any 

 of her lieges who, " of quhatsumever degree he bee of, take 

 upon hande to schutte at wilde-fowls with half-hag, culver- 

 ing, or pistolet." ^ 



In the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland 

 there are frequent references to King James iv. visiting 

 Home Castle in the Merse, with his falconers, where Lord 

 Home doubtless would show his royal guest abundance 

 of fowl, including Wild Geese, Herons, and Bitterns, to try 

 the mettle of the Hawks. 



Partridges were found in small numbers in the neifih- 



1 Lesley, in his description of Scotland, says, " Gnies pliunmi, sicut et ardeie : 

 olores autem, quorum apud Anglos magnus est proventus, pauciores." — Z)e origine 

 et rebus gestis Scutorum, ed. 1578, p. 25. 



- Chronicles of Scottish Poetry, Sibbald, vol. i. p. 431. 



3 Yarrell's British Birds, 4th ed., vol. iii. p. 179. 



* The Laws and Acts of Parliament made hy the Kings and Queen of 

 Scotland. Collected by Thomas Murray of Glendook, Knight. Edinburgh, 

 1681. 



•'■' IMd. 



