A LOST BRITISH BIBB. 153 



In 1508, and again in 1513,* Wynkyn de Worde, the famous 

 printer, published an anonymous ' Boke on Kervynge.' Here 

 again occurs " Plouer or Lapwynge," followed almost immediately 

 by " Bytture, Egryt, and Heronsewe." In those days they must 

 have been punctilious in their terminology (as people are even 

 now in some forms of sport), and some of the appropriate verbs 

 are very curious. For instance, one had not to use the word 

 "carve" at all. The actual term depended on the bird: 

 "Dysplaye a Crane"; " Dysmembre a Heron"; "Vnioint a 

 Bytture " ; " Breke an Egret " ; " Mynce a Plouer," &c. 



It is worth noting, in de Worde's volume, that an Egret has 

 to be carved as a Heron, while a Flover must be carved as a hen. 

 In the " dysplaying " of a Crane the novice is warned to "beware 

 of the trompe in her breast," thus showing an acquaintance with 

 the remarkable coiled trachea present in no other British bird. 

 Indeed, all through these old books one detects the experience 

 and knowledge of the writers, and this knowledge appears also 

 in other books besides those relating to sport or the table. 

 Cotgrave, in his 'Dictionary' (1611), translates the French 

 "Aigrette" to "a fowl like a Heron, but white; a criell or 

 dwarf Heron." And one Peter Lewin, in a curious ' Pihyming 

 Dictionary,' first published in 1570, translates Egret to the 

 Latin Asterias [= Heron or Egret] ; and there are many other 

 references which, although carrying individually but little 

 weight, afford strong proof that the Egret was well known as a 

 sort of Heron to the writers of the fifteenth to the seventeenth 

 centuries. 



One other work mentioning the Egret must not be passed 

 unnoticed, for it is of extraordinary interest to ornithologists, 

 although to-day practically unknown ; I have never seen it 

 referred to in any book on birds. It is a MS. containing 

 elaborate directions for the proper government of a nobleman's 

 house ; it is dated 1605, and was published in full by Sir Joseph 

 Banks in ' Archeologia,' vol. xiii. pp.315 et seq. This paper 

 includes unusually copious lists of game-birds and wildfowl in 

 their proper seasons. The Bustard is mentioned, and also the 

 Storck, Crayne, Shoveler, Piuffe, and Bittor. The Lapwing appears 



* There was, I find, another edition of this rare work printed by E. Allde 

 (1590 ?). The word is here spelled " Egript." 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. XIV.. April, 1910. n 



