216 HAUNTS OF THE SHEARWATER 



The only Herons seen during a ten-days' ramble 

 among the hundred and fifty or more islands of the 

 group were a pair who flapped peacefully up from a 

 sea-girt rock, on the highest pinnacle of which was a 

 nest of the ancestral enemy of their race a Peregrine 

 beautifully quilted with soft grass and the neck 

 feathers of a cock Pheasant from the preserves of 

 Tresco, a mile or two away. 



Young Shearwaters, when nearly ready to leave the 

 nest, are said ' slightly salted ' to be excellent eating, 

 the fat with which they are then thickly coated tasting, 

 according to one high authority, like 'the best fresh 

 marrow from a marrow - bone.' Other enthusiastic 

 admirers have described the meat as possessing a 

 flavour ' suggestive of some tropical fruit.' 



It was in all probability the Manx Shearwater 

 (Pujjfinus anglorum) which as ' Pofiin ' was honoured 

 with special mention as a delicacy apart from 'other 

 wyle foyle ' in the menus which have come down to us 

 of more than one high monastic feast ; and, excepting 

 only wrecks, the bird was in old days the most valued 

 product of the Scillies. 



The estimation in which it was held is shown by a 

 lease of the island, granted by the Abbot of Tavistock to 

 Ranulph de White in 1345. The rent fixed was three 

 hundred Shearwaters, or 6s. 8d. (' CCC Volucress Vocat. 

 Poffins vel vi s - viii d '), to be paid yearly at the Feast of 

 St. Michael the Archangel. 



There are few calculations more difficult than the 

 equivalents of pounds, shillings, and pence at different 



