THE COMMON HEEON. 41 



been a gallant sight when " the champion of the dames," 

 accompanied by many of the nobility and ladies of his 

 court and the falconers on horseback, went a-hawking; and 

 we know from the Lord High Treasurer's Accounts that he 

 sometimes visited Berwickshire for this purpose, one occasion 

 being "on Monnunda, the iiij da Januar (1489), quhen he 

 raide to Lauder to the halkin." ^ 



The Heron was formerly esteemed as an article of food ^ 

 and held a high place at the tables of the great, where it 

 appeared at the marriage and other principal feasts.^ An 

 entry in the Northuiiiberland Houseliold Book in the time of 

 Henry viii. reads that " it is thought in likewyse that 

 hearonsewys be bought for my lorde's owne mees, so they 

 be at xijd. a pece." Mr. James Smail, in his interesting 

 paper on " Herons and Border Heronries," ^ says that even 

 when plump and dressed and roasted to perfection, the 

 flavour of the Heron is so fishy as to be quite unpalatable, 

 " but the young birds taken from the nest and properly 

 stewed are really good." 



Its beautiful plumes appear to have been used to 

 ornament the caps of the highest in the land, and Sir 

 Walter Scott, referring to this in his description of the 

 meeting of Lord Marmion and Sir David Lindesay of the 



1 Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, 1473-1498, p. VA7. 



2 Ibid. Preface, p. ccv. 



3 The following directions for roasting the Heron appear in Le Vrai Culsinier 

 Francois, Briisselles, 1699, a copy of which is in the possession of Miss Dickenson 

 of Norham : — " Phimez-le, et le vuidez ; ensuite vous chercherez six cimeres qui 

 sont sur son corps, et un autre faisaut le septieme* qui est au-dedans ; troussez les 

 jambs le long des cuisses, faites-les blanchir sur le feu, et le piques, envelopez le 

 col avec du papier beurre, puis le faites rotir, et etant cuit, servez." Tlie Heron 

 is mentioned in the book as being in season "depuis la S. Remy (1st October) 

 iusques en Careme " (Lent). 



* Hist. Ber. Nat. aub, vol. x. p. 331. 



* Rolland, in his Faune Popvlaire tie la France, 1879, says, " Le peuple pretend que le 

 Hirou a sept vesicules de fiel." 



