STATUS OF THE CRANE 167 
abundant in districts suited to their habits, and these districts 
would be known to the falconers. 
Protection for Crane’s Eggs.—But a change was soon to 
come, and of this we get a decided hint in the Act of 1534, 
passed under Henry VIII., who was a keen falconer, and had 
an eye for any birds which afforded good sport. 
Act of 1534, 
25 Henry VIII., Cap. XI. 
An Act to avoid destruction of Wild-fowl. 
Section 4 prohibits the taking of the eggs of any kind of 
Wild-fowl from the 1st of March [1533], and the last day of 
June, and so on yearly, under pain of imprisonment, besides 
having to forfeit for every egg of any Crane or Bustard twenty 
pence, of a Bittour (Bittern), Heronne, or Shouelard (Spoonbill) 
eightpence, and for every egg of Mallard, Teal or any other 
wild-fowl, except Crows, Ravens, Bosardes (Buzzards) and 
other fowl not used to be eaten, a penny.* 
Unfortunately this Act protected the eggs only, and not 
the birds which laid them, an oversight which, as Professor 
Newton is at pains to point out,t was fatal, yet that its 
intention was good cannot be doubted. 
Gradually, as guns and gunpowder came into use, the 
days of the Crane were numbered. It was natural for men 
to wish to try the new weapon on the largest bird in the land, 
especially as-in this case it would fetch a good price for eating ; 
accordingly what the crossbow and its metal bolts failed to 
do, the gun soon accomplished. The Crane from its great size 
was readily discovered : it had no means of concealment, it was 
commoner than the Bustard, and less difficult of approach. 
Moreover, the fact that, like the Bustard, it was a ground breeder 
would go against it, and in the end be certainly fatal to 
its continuance. Its eggs were only two in number, and the 
nest rather easy to discover,t while the young ones, although 
* A part of this Act, which was found to be too oppressive, was, it is 
stated, repealed in 1550, but not that portion which prohibited the taking 
of eggs. 
t “ Dictionary of Birds,’ p. 226. 
+ In Spain the old Cranes form tracks to their nests like a cattle path 
(‘ Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,’’ p. 179). 
