origin, he is careful to point out that a Pelican had about that
time escaped from the King's collection in St. James' Park, and to
surmise that it might be the same bird; from what follows this
seems probable, but as _P. onocrotalus_ is believed to stray
occasionally into the northern parts of Germany and France ("Dict.
of Birds," p. 702) the occurrence of that species on the East Coast
of Britain, where, even at present, it would find a state of things
in every way suited to its requirements (guns excepted), would not
be very extraordinary. Browne's Pelican was killed in May, 1663,
and although Dr. Edward Browne visited St. James' Park in February,
1664, and saw "many strange creatures," including the Stork with
the wooden leg (mentioned by Evelyn), he says nothing of the
Pelicans, still it may be that it was from him that his father
heard of the escape. Evelyn, in his Diary, mentioned that he
visited St. James' Park on February 9th, 1665, and speaks of only
one Pelican, which he states was brought from Astrakan by the
Russian Ambassador as a present to the King; Willughby says
distinctly that the Emperor of Russia sent the King two Pelicans,
and further, that he took the description in his "Ornithology" from
a bird in the Royal Aviary, St. James' Park, near Westminster; it
seems therefore highly probable that Browne's bird was one of these
which had escaped from confinement. But a rather curious
circumstance arises out of this, the bird described by Willughby
does not appear to be _P. onocrotalus_, but a similar species, _P.
roseus_, found chiefly in Indio-China and westward to South-eastern
Europe, but occurring as far west as the River Volga ("Cat. of
Birds," B. M., xxvi., p. 466). In this Mr. Ogilvie Grant, the
author of that section of the Catalogue, whom I consulted, agrees
with me, and the locality whence the birds were derived, mentioned
by Willughby, renders not unlikely. Onocrotalus in Browne's time
was a general term for "the Pelican," and he probably knew but one
species and one individual, the escaped bird from Charles II.'s
Aviary. Browne's very miscellaneous collection was destroyed by the
authorities at the time of the plague (see ninth letter to
Merrett), and probably the remains of this Pelican perished with
the rest.
Anas Arctica clusii wch though hee placeth about the faro Islands is the
same wee call a puffin co[=m]on about Anglisea in wales & sometimes [for
_struck out_] taken upon our seas not sufficiently described by the name
of puffinus the bill being so remarkably differing from other ducks &
not horizontally butt meridionally formed to feed in the clefts of the
rocks of insecks, shell-fish & others.
The great number of riuers riuulets & plashes of water makes hernes [to
abound in these _struck out_] & herneries to abound in these parts. yong
hensies being esteemed a festiuall dish & much desired by some palates.
The Ardea stellaris botaurus, or bitour[26] is also co[=m]on & esteemed
the better dish. in the belly of one I found a frog in an hard frost at
christmas. another I kept in a garden 2 yeares feeding it with fish mice
& frogges. in defect whereof making a scrape for sparrowes & small
birds, the bitour made shifft to maintaine herself upon them.
[26] This is one of the birds once common enough in Norfolk, which
in the present day is only a winter and spring migrant. The last
eggs of the Bittern were taken in this county on 30th of March,
1868; the last "boom" of a resident was heard in May, 1886, in the
August of which year a young female was killed at Reedham with down
still adhering to its feathers; this was probably the last
Norfolk-bred Bittern. In the "Vulgar Errors," book 3, chapter
xxvii., section 4, is a discourse on the "mugient noise" of the
Bittern and the mode of its production, and in a foot-note in the
same place is a curious anecdote illustrating the difficulty of
detecting a wounded Bittern, even when marked down in short,
recently mown grass and flags. The spring cry of the Bittern is
mentioned by Robert Marsham in his unpublished journal nineteen
times, between the years 1739 and 1775, as first heard at Stratton
Strawless, generally between the 15th of March and the 15th of
April; and it was on the 14th of the latter month that Benjamin
Stillingfleet records it in the "Calendar of Flora" as heard in the
same locality in 1755. He does not describe the note, but uses the
words "makes a noise." Marsham, however, on one occasion, in 1750,
a very early year, records it on the 20th of February. As a once
familiar sound, but one which will probably never again be heard
here under purely normal conditions, these dates seem worthy of
recording.
[_Fol. 14._] Bistardae or Bustards[27] are not vnfrequent in the champain
& feildie part of this country a large Bird accounted a dayntie dish,
obseruable in the strength of the brest bone & short heele layes an
egge much larger then a Turkey.
[27] The last of the Norfolk and therefore certainly the last of
the British-bred Bustards, was killed in May, 1838; those which
have since occurred in this country were Continental immigrants. An
exhaustive history of the extinction of this bird will be found in
Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk," vols. 2 and 3. The Bustard,
although found in some numbers, associated in small flocks or
"droves" in the few localities which it frequented in Great
Britain, was probably never a very numerous species. The following
extract from one of Browne's letters to his son Edward, dated April
30th, and written probably in 1681, shows that he was on the verge
of discovering an anatomical peculiarity in this family of birds,
which in after years gave rise to much controversy. He says,
"yesterday I had a cock Bustard sent me from beyond Thetford. I
never did see such a vast thick neck: the crop was pulled out, butt
as [a] turkey hath an odde large substance without, so hath this
within the inside of the skinne, and the strongest and largest
neckbone of any bird in England. This I tell you, that if you meet
with one you may further observe it." The presence of a gular pouch
in the Bustard was first demonstrated by James Douglas, a Scotch
Physician, in 1740, and it appears to be fully developed only in
the adult male bird, and at the breeding season. Hence, although it
has undoubtedly been found on several occasions, the frequent
unsuccessful searches for it under unfavourable conditions led to
much scepticism as to its existence. The use of this singular
appendage is still a moot point, but it seems probable that it has
to do with "voice production," and assists in the remarkable
"showing off" exhibited by the male bird in the breeding season.
Pennant, in his "British Zoology," 1768, i., p. 215, gives a
sentimental account of its use, and an exaggerated estimate of its
proportions. In the Tables of Dietary referred to at p. 6 (note)
_ante_, the Bustard is mentioned as in season from October to May.
Morinellus or Dotterell[28] about Thetford & the champain wch comes vnto
us in september & march staying not long. & is an excellent dish.
[28] The Dotterel visits us much as in Sir T. Browne's time, but in
decreased numbers. The Sea Dotterel which Wilkin supposes to be the
Ring Plover, is undoubtedly the Turnstone. Willughby says, "Our
honoured Friend, Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich, sent us the picture
of this bird by the title of the Sea Dotterel." This is also
mentioned in the fifth letter to Merrett. See "Birds of Norfolk,"
ii., p. 82, for an interesting account of Dotterel hawking near
Thetford by James I. in the year 1610.
There is also a sea dotterell somewhat lesse butt better coloured then
the former.
Godwyts taken chiefly in marshland, though other parts not without them
accounted the dayntiest dish in England & I think for the bignesse, of
the biggest price.
Gnatts or Knots [only so far on p. 14, but as follows on fol. 13
_verso_].
Gnats or Knots a small bird which taken with netts grow excessively
fatt. If [by mew _struck out_] being mewed & fed with corne a candle
lighted in the roome they feed day & night, & when they are at their
hight of fattnesse they beginne to grow lame & are then killed or [else
they will fall aw _struck out_] as at their prime & apt to decline.
[resume p. 14.] Erythropus or Redshanck a bird co[=m]on in the marshes &
of co[=m]on food butt no dayntie dish.
A may chitt[29] a small dark gray bird litle bigger then a stint of
fatnesse beyond any. it comes in may into marshland & other parts &
abides not aboue a moneth or 6 weekes.
[29] Mr. Stevenson, "Birds of Norfolk," ii., p. 233, gives his
reasons for coming to the conclusion that the Sanderling (_Calidris
arenaria_) is here referred to, which the absence of a hind toe
(see third letter to Merrett) tends to confirm. The "_Churre_" is
only a variant of the name "_Purre_," by which the next species,
the Stint, is commonly known, and the _Green Plover_, now applied
to the Lapwing, is an old name for the _Golden Plover_, which he
rightly says [p. 20] does not breed in Norfolk.
[fol. 13 _verso_.] Another small bird somewhat larger than a stint
called a churre & is co[=m]only taken amongst them.
[resume fol. 14.] Stints in great numbers about the seashore & marshes
about stifkey Burnham & other parts.
Pluuialis or plouer green & graye in great plentie about Thetford & many
other heaths. they breed not with us butt in some parts of scotland, and
plentifully in Island [Iceland].
[_Fol. 15._] The lapwing or vannellus co[=m]on ouer all the heaths.
Cuccowes[30] of 2 sorts the one farre exceeding the other in bignesse.
some have attempted to keepe them in warme roomes all the winter butt it
hath not succeeded. in their migration they range very farre northward
for in the summer they are to bee found as high as Island.
[30] The circumstance which gave rise to the idea that there were
two kinds of Cuckoos, differing only in size, might possibly be
discovered were it worth the research; possibly it would be found
that the second species was of foreign origin. Aldrovandus, as
quoted by Willughby, says, "Our Bolognese Fowlers do unanimously
affirm, that there are found a greater and a lesser sort of
Cuckows; and besides, that the greater are of two kinds, which are
distinguished one from the other by the only difference of colour:
but the lesser differ from the greater in nothing else but
magnitude." Perhaps it was Browne's latent respect for antiquity
which led him to mention the tradition.
Avis pugnax. Ruffes[31] a marsh bird of the greatest varietie of
colours euery one therein somewhat varying from other. The female
is called a Reeve without any ruffe about the neck, lesser then the
other & hardly to bee got. They are almost all cocks & putt
together fight & destroy each other. & prepare themselues to fight
like cocks though they seeme to haue no other offensive part butt
the bill. they loose theire Ruffes about the Autumne or beginning
of winter as wee haue obserued [they _struck out_] keeping them in
a garden from may till the next spring. they most abound in
Marshland butt are also in good number in the marshes between
norwich & yarmouth.
[31] It is only necessary to add to Browne's interesting account of
this remarkable bird that it lingered longer in Norfolk as a
breeding species than in any other part of Britain, but that
although it still visits us in spring it is doubtful whether it has
bred for the last few years in the one favourite locality to which
it clung so tenaciously. The "Marshland," here referred to as
explained in a previous note, is a tract of country situated in
north-west Norfolk, near King's Lynn.
Of picus martius[32] or woodspeck many kinds. The green the Red the
Leucomelanus or neatly marked [red _crossed out_] black & white & the
cinereus or dunne calld [a re _struck out_] little [bird calld _written
above_] a nuthack. remarkable in the larger are the hardnesse of the
bill & skull & the long nerues wch tend vnto the tongue whereby it
strecheth out the tongue aboue an inch out of the mouth & so [lik
_crossed out_] licks up insecks. they make the holes in trees without
any consideration of the winds or quarters of heauen butt as the
rottenesse thereof best affordeth conuenience.
[32] _Picus martius_ is here used, as it is by Sibbald, and all
preceding writers, in a general sense for all birds commonly called
"Woodpeckers," and does not imply that the Great Black Woodpecker
(_Picus niger maximus_, of Ray's Synopsis), to which species the
name was restricted by Linnaeus, is found here, and Browne goes on
to mention the three British Woodpeckers, the Green, the Red, by
which the Great Spotted Woodpecker is intended, and the
Leucomelanus, or Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. He also includes the
Nuthatch, which was at that time (as well as the Wryneck) called a
"Woodpecker." In this passage Browne, in making a correction, does
not seem to have proceeded far enough, the word which Wilkin has
rendered "dun-coloured," is certainly "dunne calld" in the MS.; but
there are two alterations in the passage, and there is little doubt
that he intended to write "dunne cull'd" (or coloured), which would
make it read as Wilkin has printed it. The use of the word "nerve,"
for tendon or ligament, was in accordance with the phraseology of
the time.
[fol. 15 _verso_.] black heron[33] black on both sides the bottom of the
neck neck [_sic_] white gray on the outside spotted all along with black
on the inside a black coppe of small feathers some a spanne long. bill
poynted and yallowe 3 inches long
[33] This passage is not part of the original MS., but is written
on a separate slip of paper and pasted on the left-hand side of the
opening (p. 15 _verso_). I doubt whether it is more than a casual
memorandum, descriptive possibly of the plumage of the Purple
Heron, but not intended to apply to any Norfolk bird. The Black
Heron of Willughby is the Glossy Ibis, a bird which is said to have
been known to the West Norfolk gunners as the "Black Curlew."
back heron coloured intermixed with long white fethers
the flying (?) fethers black
the brest black & white most black
the legges & feet not green but an ordinarie dark cork [?] colour.
[_Fol. 16._] The number of riuulets becks & streames whose banks are
beset with willowes & Alders wch giue occasion of easier fishing &
slooping to the water makes that [bir _crossed out_] handsome coulered
bird abound wch is calld Alcedo Ispida or the King fisher. they bild in
holes about grauell pitts [have their nests very full _crossed out_]
wherein [are _crossed out_] is [_above_] to bee found great quantitie of
small fish bones. & lay [a _crossed out_] very handsome round & as it
were polished egges.
An Hobby bird[34] so calld becaus it comes in ether with or a litle
before the Hobbies in the spring. of the bignesse of a Thrush coloured
& paned[J] like an hawke marueliously subiet to the vertigo & and are
sometimes taken in those fitts.
[34] This is evidently the Wryneck, which we now call the "Cuckoo's
Mate," probably for the same reason that Browne associates it with
the Hobby. It may be that the Hobby having become comparatively
scarce, it was necessary to find another travelling companion for
this bird, and that the Cuckoo was chosen as the most suitable. Old
Norfolk names are Emmet-eater, and in one old book it is called
Turkey-bird in a MS. note.
[J] That is marked with a barred or checkered pattern.
Upupa or Hoopebird[35] so named from its note a gallant marked bird wch
I have often seen & tis not hard to shoote them.
[35] The Hoopoe would seem from this note to have been of more
frequent occurrence than in the present day, see also in his answer
to "Certain Queries" (Tract iv., Wilkin iv., p. 183), in which he
says of this bird, "though it be not seen every day, yet we often
meet with it in this country."
Ringlestones[36] a small [bird _crossed out_] white & black bird like a
wagtayle & seemes to bee some kind of motacilla marina co[=m]on about
yarmouth sands. they lay their egges in the sand & shingle about june
and as the eryngo diggers tell mee not sett them flat butt upright likes
[_sic_] egges in [a _crossed out_] salt.
[36] The Ring Plover is evidently the bird here referred to, but I
have never known the name of Ringlestone applied to this species in
Norfolk, nor have I met with it elsewhere. The Eryngo is now no
longer an article of commerce, and its diggers are extinct, but not
their tradition as to the position in which the eggs of this bird
are said to be placed--a "vulgar error" which does not accord with
the writer's experience. When the full complement of four eggs is
laid, they are arranged with their pointed ends towards the centre
of the nest, which is a slight hollow in the soil. The concavity of
the nest therefore, as well as the disproportionate size of the
larger end, gives the eggs somewhat the appearance of being placed
in the position referred to, but the small end of the egg is always
visible, Sir Thomas Browne does not seem to have been aware of the
remarkable fact of this essentially marine bird habitually nesting
on the sandy warrens about Thetford in the south-west of Norfolk,
far from the sea, which it still does, though in reduced numbers,
and is there known as the Stone-hatch, from its habit of paving its
nest with small stones.
The Arcuata or curlewe frequent about the sea coast.
[_Fol. 17._] There is also an handsome tall bird Remarkably eyed and
with a bill not aboue 2 inches long co[=m]only calld a stone
curlewe[37] butt the note thereof more resembleth that of a green plouer
[it _crossed out_] & breeds about Thetford about the stones & shingle of
the Riuers.
[37] This characteristic Norfolk bird is still far from rare in the
locality named by Browne, and is found in several other parts of
the county. Willughby says, "The learned and famous Sir Thomas
Brown, Physician in Norwich," informed him to the same effect, and
repeats that its note (one of the most charming sounds uttered on
the wild trackless heath on a summer's night) resembles that of the
Green (_i.e._, Golden) Plover, but in the ear of the writer it is
even more musical. In the third letter to Merrett, Browne says that
he has kept the Stone Curlew (not "four Curlews," as Wilkin has
it,) in large cages.
Auoseta[38] calld [I thinck a Barker _crossed out_] shoohingg-horne
[_written above_] a tall black & white bird with a bill semicircularly
reclining or bowed upward so that it is not easie to conceiue how it can
feed answerable vnto the Auoseta Italorum in Aldrovandus a summer marsh
bird & not unfrequent in Marshland.
[38] The Avoset is another bird which formerly frequented the
marshy districts of Norfolk at the breeding time, but which has now
been lost to us except as a very rare passing migrant in the
spring. It probably ceased to breed in this county in or about the
year 1818, and is said to have been exterminated in consequence of
the demand for its feathers for the purpose of dressing artificial
flies. It was called "Shoeing-horn," from the peculiar form of its
beak, which, however, rather resembles the bent awl used by
shoemakers. Girdlestone, who knew the bird well in its breeding
haunts at Salthouse and Horsey, called it "Shoe-awl," a much more
appropriate name. In his third letter to Merrett, Browne again
mentions this bird, and applies to it the name of "Barker" (which
he had crossed out in the above note), remarking that it was so
called from its barking note. Jonston figures this bird twice; once
in Tab. 48 under the name of _Avosetta Italor._, _i.e._, the
Avosetta of the Italians, and again in Tab. 54 under the second
name _Avoselta species_, an obvious error.
[A bird calld Barker from the note it hath _crossed out_]
A yarwhelp[39] so thought to bee named from its note a gray bird
intermingled with some yellowish [whitish _written above_] fethers [the
bill _crossed out_] somewhat long legged & the bill about an inch &
half. esteemed a dayntie dish.
[39] This paragraph is written on the back of fol. 16. The Yarwhelp
is the name by which the Black-tailed Godwit, a species which
formerly nested in abundance in the marshes about Horsey and some
adjacent localities in the Broads, was known. It virtually ceased
to nest here sometime between the years 1829 and 1835, but perhaps
an instance or two may have occurred rather later. It was also
known as the "Shrieker." Browne again refers to this bird in the
fourth letter to Merrett, where he calls it "barker" (a name which
he had no doubt erroneously previously applied to the Avoset), or
"Latrator, a marshbird, about the bigness of a Godwitt," and once
again under the name of "Yare-whelp, or barker," in his fifth
letter; it may be that the name "barker" was applied
indiscriminately to either species. As Lubbock names this bird as
one of the "five species in particular" which "used formerly to
swarm in our marshes" ("Fauna of Norfolk"), one would have thought
Browne would have been better acquainted with it than seems to have
been the case from the hesitating way in which he uses the
vernacular name.
Loxias or curuirostra a bird a litle bigger than a Thrush of fine
colours & prittie note [the m _crossed out_] differently from other
birds, the [lower _crossed out_] upper & lower bill crossing each other.
of a very tame nature, comes about the beginning of summer. I have known
them kept in cages butt not to outliue the winter.
A kind of coccothraustes calld a [cobble _crossed out_] coble bird[40]
bigger than a Thrush, finely coloured & shaped like a Bunting [it comes
_crossed out_] it is [sometimes _crossed out_] chiefly [_written above_]
seen [about _crossed out_] in su[=m]er about cherrie time.
[40] The Hawfinch was evidently not a very well-known bird in
Browne's time, either to himself or Willughby; the latter says, "it
is said to build in holes of trees." It has steadily increased in
frequency as a breeding species with us for the last twenty years.
[fol. 16 _verso._] A small bird of prey[41] [_something smeared out
here_] calld a birdcatcher about the bignesse of a Thrush and linnet
coloured with a longish white bill & sharpe of a very feirce & wild
nature though kept in a cage & fed with flesh. [_Added after in same
hand but fresher ink_] a kind of Lanius [Lanius _crossed out and written
more distinctly under_].
[41] This paragraph is written on the back of fol. 16. The
Red-backed Shrike, _Lanius collurio_, is the only species of Lanius
mentioned by Browne; it is singular that he omits all mention of
another bird, and that an essentially Norfolk species which would
have been new to the _Pinax_--the Bearded Titmouse, afterwards
known to Edwards as the Least Butcher Bird. Browne certainly sent a
drawing of this bird to Ray, who in his "Collection of English
words not generally used" (1674), as pointed out by Mr. Gurney,
mentions it as a "little Bird of a tawny colour on the back, and a
blew head, yellow bill, black legs, shot in an Osiar yard, called
by Sr. Tho. for distinction sake silerella," the drawing of which
he acknowledges he had received. Pennant, 1768 ("Brit. Zool.," i.,
p. 165), follows Edwards ("Nat. Hist. of Birds," &c., 1745), who
classes it with the Laniidae, and it was not till long after, and as
the result of much discussion, that it was finally established as
the only representative of a new genus under the name of _Panurus
biarmicus_. The local name is Reed Pheasant, but Browne's name of
Silerella seems an exceedingly appropriate one.
[p. 17 resumed.] A Dorhawke[42] or kind of Accipiter muscarius conceiued
to haue its name from feeding upon flies & beetles. of a woodcock colour
but paned like an Hawke a very litle poynted bill. large throat.
breedeth with us & layes a maruellous handsome spotted egge. Though I
haue opened many I could neuer find anything considerable in their
mawes. caprimulgus.
[42] Browne seems to have been much interested in this remarkable
bird, and mentions it again in his second and third letters to
Merrett, especially in the latter; he calls it Caprimulgus, but
conceives it to be a kind of Accipiter, _muscarius_, or
_cantharophagus_, "in brief" [?] "_avis rostratula gutturosa_,
_quasi coxans_, _scarabaeis vescens_, _sub vesperam volans_, _ovum
speciassisimum excludens_," a fair specimen of the descriptive
method of the time. Although he used the name Caprimulgus, it will
be observed that he does not mention the "vulgar error" which led
to its being so called. Merrett includes this species in the
_Pinax_ under the name of "Caprimulgus, or the Goat-sucker," but in
a letter to Browne tells him he knows no Hawk called a Dorhawk.
[_Fol. 18._] Auis Trogloditica[43] or Chock a small bird mixed of black
& white & breeding in cony borrouges whereof the warrens are full from
April to September. at which time they leaue the country. they are taken
with an Hobby and a net and are a very good dish.
[43] The Wheatear is here referred to; the name _trogloditica_
would seem to be more appropriate in this country, having reference
to its habits of nesting in "Cony borroughs," than that of
_aenanthe_, as applied to it by those who knew it as frequenting the
Continental vineyards. A name still, or recently in use in West
Norfolk, is Cony-chuck.
Spermologus. [_sic_] Rookes wch by reason of the [in reason of _crossed
out_] great quantitie of corn feilds & Rooke groues are in great plentie
the yong ones are co[=m]only eaten sometimes sold in norwich market &
many are killd for their Liuers in order to cure of the Rickets.
Crowes[44] as euerywhere and also the coruus variegatus or pyed crowe
with dunne & black interchangeably they come in the winter & depart in
the summer & seeme to bee the same wch clusius discribeth in the faro
Islands from whence perhaps these come. [they are _crossed out_] and I
have seen them [_written above_] very co[=m]on in Ireland, butt not
known in many parts of England.