18 
where it would make a much handsomer dish than the curlew. I 
can only infer, from the value attached to these two birds being 
precisely the same, that the crane was less esteemed for the table 
than has been generally supposed, or that the curlew was con- 
sidered more of a delicacy than it now is, or it might be that its 
wary habits being too much for the cross-bow it was more of a rarity. 
The bustard is only twice mentioned ; the first time, Christmas, 
1527, as having been killed, with eight mallards and one heron, 
by the cross-bow j the second time, three years after, in the 
following entry : — 
Itm in reward the xxv day of July, [1530,] to Baxter’s svnt. 
for bringyng of ij young bustards .... ij'*. 
The “ reward ” does not seem to have been very large, judging 
from some other entries of the same natui-e wliich I add by way of 
comparison. 
The bringers in of 3 “ feasands,” half a buck, some strawberries, 
and a “ cygnett,” each received 4d. ; the reward for a fresh salmon 
was 2d., except on one occasion when the folloAving entry occurs : — 
Itm in reward the xxj dayo of December, to a felaw that 
brought a samon from Lambard, the Miller of Swanton 
Mills ........ viij'^. 
Possibly the distance may have produced so large a reward in 
this instance. I am surprised to find the bustard mentioned only 
twice, as it must have been frequent in Norfolk in those days. 
The principal means by which the bu-ds mentioned were 
obtained was the cross-bow ; some idea of the skill with which this 
rude instrument must have been used may be gained from a list of 
the bu’ds killed with it, viz. : — wild geese, bittern, mallards, swan, 
crane, bustard, and heron. Next come the hawks — the goshawk 
sends in his pheasants ; the sparrow hawk, rabbits and partridges ; 
and the brave little hobby, on one occasion fourteen, and on 
another twelve larks. Water-dogs were formerly trained to take 
wild-fowl, and to the “ spaunyells ” share fall six mallards and 
five coots. 
Hitherto, both birds and beasts had only the snare, the hawk, 
and the cross-bow to contend against, but in the first week in 
November, 1533, a new era is introduced, and a much more 
terrible engine of destruction comes amongst them — “ Itm a watter- 
