CRANES AT CHRISTMAS 



Amongst the many good things with which our 

 forefathers were wont to stock their larders at 

 Christmas time were Cranes, and reference to some 

 of the " household books " of the Middle Ages shows 

 that, although these birds were generally regarded 

 as delicacies, there was no apparent difficulty in pro- 

 curing them in England for those who were able to 

 pay for them. Thus, in the Northumberland House- 

 hold Book, for example (15 12), we find the steward's 

 entry, " It is thought that cranys must be hadde at 

 Crystynmas and other principall feestes for my 

 lordes owne mees, so they be boght at xvjd. a pece," 

 a sum in those days equivalent, perhaps, to half as 

 many shillings of our money. Indeed, at one time, 

 if we are to credit the old chroniclers. Cranes were 

 common enough in England to afford abundant 

 sport to falconers, fowlers, and shooters with the 

 cross-bow, by each and all of whom, if masters of 

 their craft, they were easily taken. It is chiefly to 

 the scattered records of such sport, and to the 

 entries of payments made by the stewards of great 

 and noble households, that the naturalist must 

 turn who would collect materials for a history of the 

 Crane in England. 



Perhaps one of the earliest notices of the Crane 

 312 



