122 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
buy Plovers and Rhine wine, and again when Barnaby Bryse 
rode to the French Queen with Plovers, and had two shillings 
for his trouble, it was, we may assume, Lapwings that are 
meant. Once only does Mr. le Strange find them specified : 
“1548 [November 15] It™ a gren plover j [penny].” But 
where the name Plover is associated with Stints and other 
shore birds, as in the case of gifts from the Vicar of Thornham 
(a parish adjacent to the sea), who was a somewhat frequent 
contributor,* it is very possible that the Golden Plover is 
intended. 
Among so many items it is difficult to know which to 
begin with. The first one of a natural history character 
which I come across is “C C & di. of Whyte heryng ” 
(“Archaeol.,”’ p. 417). A white herring generally implies a 
fresh herring, but so many as 250 must have been pickled, 
and were probably in a barrel. 
The herrings are followed by six Geese brought by a 
woman from Yngaldesthorpe, doubtless tame Geese. Then 
come some chickens and a peck of oatmeal, and on the next 
page “Itm pd. for Sethyng a Pykerell which my Mr. had to 
ye Abbeye ’’ —that is for boiling a pike. Pykerell or Pickerel 
was a common name for a small pike in various parts of 
England. 
The Geese fetched to the mension seem to have been 
generally tame Geese, sometimes spoken of as Green Geese, 
that is to say grass-fed Geese, which have come off a pasture. 
A Wild Goose night have been a tough morsel, and is only 
specified occasionally. 
The Brent Goose was no doubt a common bird in the 
Wash then, as it is still, and would have been reckoned more 
palatable. Accordingly it is not surprising that Mr. le Strange 
is able to give nine references to this species, which are here 
subjoined, with the dates as supplied by him, most of which 
come in mid-winter :— 
1520 [January 15] ii dussen byrdys and a brant of store. 
1523 [December 1] oont wylde goose and oon brante. 
1526 [January] Paid to a shepherd of Hecham for a wylde- 
goos, iii brantes, a spowe and a redshanke xvi". 
* « Archaeologia,” Vol. XXV., p. 422. 
+ “One” is often spelled ‘‘oon’’ in the Accounts. 
