[24] Moor-hens are of course numerous in all suitable localities, and the Water Rail is still fairly common, but its eggs have a market value and are (or were) sadly stolen; a few years ago a London dealer is said to have received over 200 eggs of this bird in one season from Yarmouth.
And a kind of Ralla aquatica or water Rayle.
[Fol. 13.] An onocrotalus or pelican[25] shott upon Horsey fenne 1663 May 22 wch stuffed and cleansed I yet retaine it was 3 yards & half between the extremities of the wings the chowle & beake answering the vsuall discription the extremities of the wings for a spanne deepe browne the rest of the body white. a fowle [not found struck out] wch none could remember upon this coast. about the same time I heard one of the kings pellicans was lost at St James', perhaps this might bee the same.
[25] There is every reason to believe that a species of Pelican, probably from its size P. crispus, was formerly an inhabitant of the East Anglian Fens; its bones have been found in the peat on three occasions, one of these being the bone of a bird so young as to show that it must have been bred in the locality, and therefore that the species was a true native and not a casual visitant. Bones of a species of Pelican have also been found in the remains of lake-dwellings at Glastonbury, in Somersetshire.
With regard to the species of the bird recorded by Browne and its 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 com̄on 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 com̄on & 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.] Bistardæ 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.