64 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
place where these birds have always bred in great numbers, 
and where there are still thousands, as I can testify, was 
leased by the King, as Earl of Cornwall, to the Abbot Ranulphus 
of Blancminster for half a mark (=six and eightpence), or 
“c ¢ ¢ poffouns.” No doubt they were intended for eating, 
and Professor Newton thinks they may have been young 
ones dried or salted.* 
A rent of half a mark seems little more than nominal, 
but it was no doubt meant to fix the Earl of Cornwall’s 
seigniory. Besides this record of Puffins at Scilly m 13837, 
there are one or two incidental allusions to them, in 1366 and 
1367, as among the assets in Ministers’ accounts. These 
latter, which are among the treasures of the Public Record 
Office, are cited in the ‘“‘ New English Dictionary.” 
Ignorance of Bird-life-—From a naturalist’s point of view, 
the fourteenth century is chiefly remarkable for our extreme 
ignorance of the conditions of bird-life which then pre- 
vailed in the British Isles. Nor do we apparently know 
much of the ornithology of any part of Europe at this 
time, a circumstance which is to be regretted, but there is 
no help for it. There is the one exception of Falconry, 
a subject to which there are many references, this sport 
continuing as popular as ever, and, being the favourite 
pastime of princes and nobles, it continually comes into 
the MSS. of the time. When our Edward III. invaded 
France, in 1339, he took care that these insignia of royalty 
should not be wanting, having with him, as Jehan 
Froissart relates, thirty faleconers. ‘“‘ Le Roi,’ says the old 
chronicler : “ avoit bien, pour lui, trente fauconiers & cheval, 
chargés d’oiseaux, & bien soixante couples de forts chiens, & 
autant de levriers: . . . . .” (Vol. I., chap. ccx., p. 240). 
Yet we can hardly suppose that the rigours of war would 
have allowed him much time for hawking, or for coursing. 
It was in the reign of this king that an incident took place 
which shows the estimation in which a trained falcon was 
held, and not by the laity only. The Bishop of Ely attended 
the service of the church at Bermondsey, Southwark, leaving 
his hawk in the cloister, which in the meantime was stolen, 
whereupon the Bishop, discovering his loss, promptly pro- 
* «Dictionary of Birds,” p. 751. 
