CRANES AT CHRISTMAS 315 



was given at the enthronisation of Archbishop 

 Nevill in Edward IV.'s time. From this it 

 appears that, amongst the various wildfowl then 

 served up, there were no less than 204 Cranes. 



Fosbrooke tells us, in his Encyclopisdia of 

 Antiquities (vol. ii. p. 1014), that it was a custom 

 in the Middle Ages to keep tame Cranes, which 

 stood before the table at dinner, and even kneeled 

 and bowed the head when a bishop gave the 

 benediction ! Whether it is possible they could 

 have been made so tractable as this, we will not 

 pretend to say : but there seems to be no doubt 

 that they were kept in courtyards and about the 

 houses formerly, just as peafowl are kept at the 

 present day. Occasionally they may be found 

 mentioned in old inventories of live stock, taken on 

 the death of their owners. Thus, in an inventory 

 of Mr Serjeant Keble's goods, dated July 6, 1500, 

 after an enumeration of his cattle, sheep, and 

 horses, we find three swans valued at los., two geese 

 at 3s. 4d., and three cranes at 5s. 



This would seem to be a liberal valuation, if we 

 may judge by the price paid in October 1502, when 

 as appears from The Wardrobe Accounts of 

 Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV. and 

 consort of Henry VII.), the sum paid to a servant 

 of Sir John Longes for a Crane was xijd. But 

 perhaps this was only a douceur, and did not 

 represent the market value of the bird, which 

 seems to have varied considerably. Thus in the 

 Household Book of the r Estranges of Hunstanton 

 (a.d. 1519-157B) occur the items : — 



