20 
rows, and dotted with, villages and pleasant country seats, would 
appear as moors overgrown with furze, or fens abandoned to wild 
ducks .... many breeds, now extinct or rare, both of 
quadrupeds and birds, were still common.” Foxes swarmed, the 
white-maned wild-bidl was still found “ in a few of the southern 
forests,” the badger was common, and the wild-cat and yellow- 
breasted marten frequent. White-tailed eagles “ preyed on the 
fish along the coast of blorfolk ; on all the downs, from the British 
Channel to Yorkshire, large bustards strayed in troops,” and our 
marshes were still frequented by the crane and the spoonbill. 
“ Some of these races, the progress of cultivation has extirpated, of 
others, the numbers are so much diminished that men crowd to 
gaze at specimens as at a Bengal tiger or a polar bear.” 
The worthy doctor is singularly free from the curious “ conceits ” 
so frequent in the writers of his time, as indeed might be expected 
from the denouncer of “ vulgar errors ; ” and what is most im- 
portant, records the results of his own observations, scorning the 
glaring plagiarisms then so common, by which the most absurd stories 
were again and again repeated. The crane, he tells us, was often 
met with in hard winters, especially about the open country ; but 
he considers they had been more plentiful, for he adds, “ in a bill of 
fare, when the mayor entertained the Duke of I^orfolk, I met 
with cranes in a dish.” Bustards were then common, and “ were 
accounted a dainty dish ; ” the bittern was also abundant and con- 
sidered good eathig ; he “ kept [one] in a garden for two years, 
feeding it with fish, mice, and frogs ; in default whereof, making a 
scrape \i.e. laying a train of corn] for sparrows and small birds, the 
betour made shift to maintain himself upon them.” Eavens were 
so plentiful that he attributes the scarcity of kites about the city to 
their presence. The black grouse was doubtless then, as now, 
found near Lynn ; for he remarks : “ The heathpoult, common in 
the north, is unknown hero, as also the grouse ; though I have 
heard some have been seen about Lynn.” Very little is said about 
the hawks, although they must have been well-represented. The 
golden eagle he, with his usual caution, disclaimed as a Norfolk 
bird, although I am hajrpy to say we may now, thanks to the 
exertions of Mr. Stevenson, add it to our already comprehensive list. 
The sea eagle, the osprey, found about the feus and numerous 
broads ; the kite, then numerous, and the common buzzard and 
