SIXTEENTH CENTURY 131 
1540 = [Oct. 
27] One crane, ii’. 
1543 [Sept. 23] 
Four cranes killed by Canseller [the 
knight’s keeper]. 
1548 [Oct. 22] One crane. 
1550 ~—- [ Dec. 8] One crane iii’. 
[ ” 28] ” 
Of these Cranes, two are stated to have been killed with 
the gun, and four in 1527 and 1528 with the crossbow, and 
this is about the last occasion on which we hear of the cross- 
bow, which was falling into disuse. Between 1528 and 1533 
the Crane is not recorded,* and then we read of one “‘ killed 
with the gun” on September 28th. It is to be noted that 
three were brought in on one day in November, and four 
on a single day in September. As regards the months, one 
Crane was got in July, seven in September, five in October, 
five in November, six in December, and five in January. 
Its status in North Norfolk therefore was evidently that of a 
winter bird, although possibly the July example was a breeder 
and the five in September young birds. For fourteen of them 
no price is quoted, implying that they were procured on the 
Knight’s own manors, which doubtless included extensive 
marshes at Hunstanton and Holme. 
The Spoonbill—That the Spoonbill comes into these 
Accounts has not generally been recognised,t but as a matter of 
tact it is there entered, seven times as“ popelere ” or “ popelar,”’ 
and three times as “shovelarde.” Popeler, like Shoulard or 
Shovelard, was a medizvalname for the Spoonbill, but Shove- 
lard is much the more frequent of the two in documents. 
Yet Popeler must be the earlier designation, for it occurs 
in connection with Norfolk in 1300, as poplo3;, a centraction 
for poplorum (“Norwich Nat. Tr.,’ VI., p. 159). Both 
names refer to the spoonlike shape of the beak in this species. 
The following passages, as supplied with the dates as cal- 
culated by Mr. le Strange, include twenty-three Spoonbills, 
all of which were most likely “ branchers”’ or young ones, 
* But this does not necessarily imply that none were brought in, but 
only that the accounts are imperfect, also between the same dates no Bustards, 
Spoonbills, Snipe, Wigeon or Godwits are entered. 
+ Though alluded to in “‘ The Birds of Norfolk ’’ (Vol. III., p. 135, note). 
