SIXTEENTH CENTURY 143 
not alluded to in the “ Archaeologia,” Mr. le Strange has given 
me four or five entries from the unpublished Accounts which 
refer to the making of shore bird-nets. 
1543 [November 8th] To a woman of Thornham for a 
hi [7.e. a pound] of stryng for the stynt nette. 
1543 [November 14th] To a woman for twyn for ye 
stynt nett vill, 
1543 [November 26th] To a woman of Thornham fora 
li of twyne for the stynt nette. 
1543 [December 19th] For a stynt nette for Jekes, & 
the brayding thereof viii’. 
But Stint nets were not the only ones used by the fowlers, 
for another entry is tenpence for twine for the Partridge net, 
most likely in this instance a draw net. With this a covey 
of Partridges could be encompassed at night by two men, 
each holding one end of the net: the spaniel, which was 
their indispensable companion, having first scented out the 
whereabouts of the game. A second plan was to use them 
by day with a trained Falcon aloft, which, no matter at what 
height she hung, would be seen by the Partridges, which then 
squatted close in terror of their natural enemy. Another 
entry communicated by Mr. le Strange runs :— 
“1540 [June 6]. It™ p* the same day to Gyburn for 
suche things as he have bought vz.,* iij flesaunt nettes & a 
Cloth ij* viij’, for ij ptrich nettes v:x, iij* hoby nettes xj‘, 
for a sawe ij”... On the same page of the Accounts 
Mr. le Strange finds: ‘“It™ p* the viij'® day of May to 
Gybson for his costs when he went a ffyssyng & a Taking 
of the Hobye... vj?’ The “hoby”’ nets were perhaps 
intended to catch Skylarks while the Hobby waited over- 
head. The employment of a small Falcon for this kind of 
sport was called “ daring,’ and is described by Turbervile 
in his ‘‘ Booke of Faulconrie”’ (1575). A well-known 
poet alludes to it when he writes, ‘As larks lie dar’d 
to shun the hobby’s flight’ (Dryden). In the second 
entry, perhaps, the allusion may be to a Hobye-horse, and 
not to a bird. 
* Namely. 
