“ Formerly this l)ird was held in esteem as an article of food ; 
they were taken whilst young, before they were able to fly, by 
driving them into nets, and Avhen fattened on ofial were sold for 
the table at five shillings the dozen ; and we further learn from 
])r. Plott’s ‘ History of Staffordshire,’ published in 1686, that 
fifty dozen were frequently taken at a driving, and that three 
drivings were generally made in a season.” 
Having no personal experience of their edible qualities, I am 
unable to state whether a mere vulgar prejudice excludes such food 
from our modern cuiaine, or whether the less pampered appetites 
of our forefathers caused even a nestling gull, “ fattened on ofhil,” to 
be regarded as “ a dainty dish to set before the king but, inas- 
much as Blomfield informs us that in the reign of Henry the 
Second the manor of Scoulton, Newlands, was held by Hugh de 
Burdeleys, and his immediate descendants, by “ the Sergeantry of 
keeping the King’s larder,” it is more than probable that Scoulton 
gulls, by virtue of the “lardercr’s” office, held an honourable 
position at the royal table. 
To pass now to a description of Scoulton gullery as it exists at 
the present time, I must premise that the same condition of things, 
as I have, here attempted to pourtray, continued, with but little 
material change, until the provisions of the Commons Enclosure 
Act were carried out in that parish, between the years 1805 and 
1807, and thenceforward drainage and cultivation quickly circum- 
scribed the boundaries of the fen, and the once barren uplands 
supplied better food than rabbits to the rural population. 
About this date, the then proprietor of the l^Iere, no doubt 
foreseeing the destruction of the gullery, if not strictly preserved, 
planted the fine belt of trees which now encircles it, and formed 
the raised bank by the water’s edge, a mile and three quarters 
round, from which visitors are enabled to watch the actions of the 
gulls. But for such timely measures having been adopted, to keep 
off the egg stealers and the irrepressible gunner, Scoulton gullery, 
like those of Horsey, Feltwell, and others, would have been loner 
since abandoned, and local naturalists would have been deprived 
of one of the most interesting sights in the whole coimty. 
The water, as now confined within its hanks, with the main 
island or “ hearth ” in the centre, cover over seventy acres, but 
the gidls do not breed on more than two-thirds of the extent ; the 
