SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 191 
admitted that the similarity of the names—both of which 
are derived from the cry of the birds—is very misleading. 
Although puit or puet, a name distinctly expressive of their 
note, was the almcst universal appellation in former days for 
these Gulls, in Kent they were known as crocards or crockers, 
literally birds which croaked. We meet with the crocard 
among the good things to be served to Henry VIII. and his 
court. Thus at Eltham Palace, a favourite resort of the 
Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, the table viands in 1531 
included crocurds, as well as winders (Wigeon), runners (Rails), 
grows (Black Grouse) and peions (Pigeons).* Dr. Ticehurst 
tells us that the name is by no means obsoletet in Kent. 
1603. Grorce OwEN. 
We are now in the seventeenth century, and with it a 
wide field is opened to the enquirer, for ornithology at length 
begins to find itself upon a firmer footing. Its devotees are 
still few and far between, but the study of birds is no longer 
looked upon as beneath the notice of learned men; in fact, 
a few of the best brains in England occupied themselves with 
it more or less, in conjunction with botany. Not the least 
of this little band were John Ray, Francis Willughby, Ralph 
Johnson, Jessop of Sheffield, Sir Thomas Browne, and a 
Welshman named Owen. 
George Owen, lord of Kemes, a native of Pembrokeshire, 
who died in 1613, has left behind him a very singular account 
of the birds of that county,{in which he mentions, among other 
things, the breeding of the Spoonbill and Crane. Part of his 
narrative, referring to the abundance of the Woodcock, and 
the modes of taking them, appears to be worth quoting, and 
is as follows: ‘‘If any easterly wind be aloft,” says Owen, 
in his quaint English, ‘‘ we shall be sure to have him [7.e., the 
Woodcock], a fortnight, and sometimes three weeks before 
Michaelmas, and for plenty it is almost incredible. For when 
the chief time of haunt is [7.e., the autumn migration], we have 
more plenty of that kind of fowl than all other sorts laid 
*“ Archaeologia,”’ 1786, p, 154, 
+ ‘‘ Birds of Kent,” p, 511. 
+ Supra, p. 177. The whole of Owen’s relation is given in the 
«« Zoologist ’’ for 1895 (p. 241). 
