292 Dr Fleming on the Influence of Society on the 
The Egret, which does not at present occur but as an occa- 
sional visitant, appears to have been plentiful about the middle 
of the 15th century. A thousand individuals are stated to have 
been used at the celebrated feast of Archbishop NevilPs in the 
reign of Edward the Fourth 
The Crane, now equally rare with the Egret, appears, even 
so late as the days of Willoughby, to have occurred in abun- 
dance. In his 44 Ornithologiafl he says : 44 saepissime ad nos 
commeant, suntqu-e in palustribus agri Lincolniensis et Canta- 
brigiensis, aestivo tempore magni eorum g reges,” p. 200. Ray, 
when repeating the same observation, states their visits, (pro- 
bably with greater propriety) to have been 44 hyberno tempore,” 
Syn. Av. p. 95. That they were equally common in Scotland 
a century previous to the observations of Willoughby, appears 
evident from the following passage of Lesley, 64 De Origine , 
Moribus et Rebus gestis Scotorumfl Rome, 1678, p. 25. 44 C ac- 
tor um quia nihil est ex omni parte beatum, quod una parte no- 
bis redundat, alia est diminution ; nam ciconise, fasiani, tur- 
tures, turdi, philomelse, apud alias nationes frequentes, vix 
apud nos inveniuntur : grues plurimi , sicut et ardese : olores 
autem, quorum apud Anglos magnus est proventus pauciores.” 
Though these birds are now expelled from Britain, they still 
continue on the Continent of Europe and Asia, to maintain 
their existence, favoured by the great extent of waste ground, 
and the comparativelv slow progress of improvement in society. 
It may now be asked, If these birds have so very recently 
suffered expulsion from the British Isles, how many more spe- 
cies must have been extirpated since the Celt first took posses- 
sion of the country, or even since the Roman armies were with- 
drawn ? But on this subject we presume not to speculate, as 
we have neither documents left us in history, nor memorials in 
nature. 
The influence of the progress of society on the species of 
British Quadrupeds will appear to have been equally extensive. 
* There are some circumstances connected with the known habits of the birds 
stated to have been served up at this feast, calculated to shake our confidence in 
the truth of its history, or at least in the accuracy of its historian. Woodcocks and 
cranes, as well .as ruffs and quaills, appear in equal abundance, though the former 
visit the country only in the winter, the latter in the summer. 
