3i6 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



" 1 5 19. Itm. pd. for a crane and vj plovs, xxd. 



" 1526. The xxxixth weke. Itm. iiij malards 

 and a crane kylled wt. the crossbowe. 



"1533. The xxvjth weke. Thursdaye. Itm. a 

 crane, vjd. 



" 1533. The xxxviijth weke. Tewysdaye. Itm. 

 a crane kylled wt. the gun." 



In the Northumberland Household Book (15 12), 

 already quoted, the price of a Crane is set down at 

 " xvjd. a pece." At a feast, given in the Inner 

 Temple Hall, on the i6th of October 1555, the 

 price given for a Crane was the same as for a Swan 

 and Bustard — namely xs., pheasants and turkeys 

 being charged at iiijs. each ; while in the Lord 

 North's " accounts " (1577), one Crane is charged at 

 xiijs. iiijd., a Heron at the same period being only 

 valued at iijs. 



Before this time, however, it would seem that 

 Cranes were getting scarce in England, and in 1534 

 it had become necessary to pass an Act, quaintly 

 entituled "An Act to avoide Distruction of Wilde 

 Fowie," whereby it was made illegal, between the 

 first day of March and the last day of June, to take 

 or destroy the eggs of any wildfowl on pain of 

 imprisonment for a year, and a forfeit for every &'g^ 

 of a Crane or Bustard twenty pence, for every &^^ 

 of a Bittern, Heron, or Shovelard (i.e.. Spoonbill) 

 eightpence, and for every ^'g^ of a Mallard, Teal, or 

 other wildfowl a penny, half the penalty going to 

 the king, and the other half to the informer. 



The breeding haunts of the Crane in England 

 were chiefly, if not exclusively, in the fens of the 



