132 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
in which state they were considered to be prime eating. 
They had to be secured by means of a hook on a pole, in 
the same way as young Herons, and the two species may 
have bred together. It will be observed that the entries run 
from April 30th to July 13th, and this is very suggestive 
of a breeding-place not far off, and probably it was on the 
estate, for in every case the Spoonbills are stated to have 
been of store. 
1523. [April 30] Item ij popeleres of store. 
[May 4] Item v herns and a popelere of store. 
[May 8] Item i popeleres of store. 
1533. [June 1] Item iiij cople of rabbettes & a poplere 
of store. 
[June 2] Item ii popeleres & iiij cople of rabbettes 
of store. 
[June 8] Item ii popeleres & iii rabbettes of store. 
[July 9] Item iii hernes & iiij popeleres of store. 
[July 10] Item iii hernes & a popeler of store. 
1543. [May 20] Item spent ii shovelards that cam from 
thens [Hunstanton ],—store. 
1548. [July 7] Item ij shovelardes. 
[July 13] Item ij shovelardes. 
It may have been from a Hunstanton breeding settlement 
of Spoonbills that Cardinal Wolsey’s table was once supplied, 
for Mr. E. M. Beloe has discovered an entry in the ‘“‘ Hall- 
Book” of King’s Lynn,* setting forth that when Wolsey 
came there in August 1521, he and his retinue were presented 
with three “‘ shovelardes”’ (7.e., spoonbills), three Bitterns, 
ten cygnets, twelve capons, thirteen plovers, eight pike and 
three tench. 
The Heron.—Herns and Hernshaws are continually put 
down ; the entries are too numerous to quote, but it may be 
observed that the latter name is not always restricted to 
young ones. Herons were reckoned to be of considerable 
account on a country property, as they are now, although for 
a different reason. Hawking them was, as Mr. Harting 
observes, thought to be “‘a marvellous and delectable pastime,” 
and in some of the treatises upon falconry many pages are 
* No. III., fol. 319. The passage is printed in Hillen’s ‘‘ The Borough 
of King’s Lynn.” 
