THE KING’S CORMORANTS. 
26l 
fish with cormorants. James himself, who was a great 
sportsman, kept trained cormorants for many years, and 
was accustomed to travel about the country with them, 
fishing as he went. 
We have seen a curious MS. diary * in the British 
Museum, written in old French, by Hans Jacob Wurmser 
v. Vendenheym, who accompanied Lewis Frederick, Duke 
of Wurtemberg, in his diplomatic mission to England in 
1610, from which it appears that the Duke, proceeding by 
Ware, Royston, Cambridge, and Newmarket, arrived at 
Thetford on the 7th of May,J- where King James the First 
was then amusing himself with hunting, hawking, and 
fishing with cormorants. 
The entry with reference to the cormorants is as 
follows :— 
Lu 7 ndy Thetford. 
S'. E. soupa derechef avecq sa Ma ie . Lesquel en sortans 
de table , entrerent en carrosse pour alter a la riviere , 
ou ils virent des Cormorants , oyseau qui par signe que 
maistre qui les addressez leur donne , se plongent sous 
Peaux et prennent des Anguilles et autre poisson ; lequel 
aussy par signe Von le faict rendir et vomir tons vifs , 
* This diary is amongst the additional MSS. in the British Museum. It is 
bound in soft parchment, and entered in the catalogue as “Wurmser, H. J.: 
Travels with Louis, Count (?) of Wurtemberg, 20,001.” 
f The presence of the King at Thetford at this date, as on other occasions, is 
recorded in the “Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King 
James the First,” as published in four volumes by John Nichols, F.S.A., in 1828. 
