The Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes and Letters on the Natural History of
Norfolk, by Thomas Browne
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk
More Especially on the Birds and Fishes
Author: Thomas Browne
Release Date: April 16, 2011 [EBook #35888]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATURAL HISTORY OF NORFOLK ***
Produced by Charlene Taylor, Leonard Johnson and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
NOTES AND LETTERS
ON THE
NATURAL HISTORY OF NORFOLK
[Illustration: SIR THOMAS BROWNE TO DOCTOR CHRISTOPHER MERRETT.
MS. RAWLINSON D. cviii., FOL. 105. --_See p. 80._]
Notes and Letters
ON THE
Natural History of Norfolk
MORE ESPECIALLY ON THE
BIRDS AND FISHES
FROM THE MSS. OF
SIR THOMAS BROWNE, M.D.
(1605-1682)
IN THE SLOANE COLLECTION IN THE LIBRARY OF THE BRITISH
MUSEUM AND IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD
WITH NOTES BY
THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.
_Member of the British Ornithologists' Union; Vice-President of the
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society_
LONDON
JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED]
1902
* * * * *
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
FAUNA OF NORFOLK,
AND MORE PRACTICALLY ON
The Popular District of the Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk,
BY THE LATE
REV. RICHARD LUBBOCK, M.A.
_New Edition, 6s.; Half Roxburgh, 7s. 6d._
WITH ADDITIONS FROM UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF THE AUTHOR, AND NOTES BY
THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.,
ALSO A MEMOIR BY
HENRY STEVENSON, F.L.S.,
AN APPENDIX CONTAINING NOTES ON HAWKING IN NORFOLK, BY
ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., F.R.S., ETC.,
AND ON THE DECOYS, REPTILES, SEA FISH, LEPIDOPTERA,
AND BOTANY OF THE COUNTRY.
"In addition to the intrinsic merits of the book, of which we can
personally speak in the superlative degree as one of the most
pleasantly-written of the many pleasant natural history books our
language is so rich in--describing, as it does, the 'Broad
District'--a country unlike any other part of England, and a very
paradise to the Botanist, Entomologist, and Ornithologist. This
new edition is edited by Mr. Thomas Southwell, the active
Secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, whose
full and accurate knowledge of the natural history of Norfolk
better fits him for the task than any other man we know
of."--_Science Gossip._
"The book in its original form is well known to naturalists, and
it would be difficult to find another volume of its size which
conveys in so agreeable a manner so much accurate and trustworthy
information on the subject of which it treats. We promise to
those who have never yet read this book a rare treat from its
perusal."--_Zoologist._
* * * * *
SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
FLORA OF NORFOLK,
BY
REV. KIRBY TRIMMER, A.B.
_Crown 8vo. Cloth 6s._
The Supplement to the "Flora of Norfolk" is a record of
additional localities of many of the plants contained in that
publication, and an entry of some other plants new in the
country.
LONDON: JARROLD AND SONS, 10 AND 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
* * * * *
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE
TO THE
NORWICH CASTLE MUSEUM,
_With an Account of its Origin and Progress_,
BY
THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.,
_Member of the British Ornithologists' Union, Vice-President of the
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, etc._:
ALSO AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CASTLE KEEP BY
REV. WM. HUDSON, M.A.,
_Hon. Sec. Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society:_
AND A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTION OF PICTURES, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF
THE "NORWICH SCHOOL" OF ARTISTS BY
G. C. EATON, ESQ.,
_Late Hon. Sec. Norfolk and Norwich Museum._
(Published under the Special Sanction of the Castle Museum Committee.)
_Profusely Illustrated, 1 6. Abridged Edition, 6d._
"Mr. Southwell is himself an authority on natural history, and he
has contrived to invest his description of the various specimens
with a liveliness and vigour, as well as a scientific accuracy.
He has taken care to include every object of importance, and his
work should at once take its place as the popular guide to the
Museum."--_Bookseller._
"An interesting and useful guide to the collection in the Museum.
It is not merely a catalogue, but a popular natural history, in
which the specimens in the cases are used as illustrations.
Sightseers will pleasantly acquire a knowledge of the leading
characteristics of the different groups of animals, and students
will gain a large amount of sound instruction."--_Nature._
"There is an abundance of useful information confined in a small
compass, while there are many capital illustrations."--_The
Record._
"Its collections are of interest not only to the antiquarian and
to the geologist, but also to the ornithologist; and the picture
gallery is worth a visit."--_Daily Telegraph._
"Visitors will find this cheap, handy, well-filled volume of much
service."--_The Guardian._
LONDON: JARROLD AND SONS, 10 AND 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION vii
NOTES ON CERTAIN BIRDS FOUND IN NORFOLK 1
NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES, ETC., FOUND IN NORFOLK 31
LETTERS TO MERRETT 57
APPENDIX A. 86
APPENDIX B. 90
APPENDIX C. 95
APPENDIX D. 96
INDEX 99
INTRODUCTION.
"Every kingdom, every province, should have its own
monographer."--_Gilbert White. Seventh Letter to Barrington._
The excellent Memoir of Sir Thomas Browne, in Wilkin's Edition of his
works, renders it unnecessary here to repeat what has already been so
well done; suffice it to say that he was born in London on the 19th of
October, 1605; he was educated at Winchester School and entered at
Broadgates Hall (now Pembroke College), Oxford, in 1623; graduated B.A.
31st January, 1626-7, and M.A. 11th June, 1629. About the year 1633 he
was created Doctor of Physick at Leyden. In 1636 he took up his
residence in Norwich, in 1637 was incorporated Doctor of Physic in
Oxford, and in 1665 was chosen an Honorary Fellow of the College of
Physicians. In 1671 Browne was knighted at Norwich by Charles II., and
after a useful and honourable career died on his seventy-sixth birthday,
the 19th of October, 1682, and his body lies buried in the church of St.
Peter Mancroft, Norwich.
Browne in early life travelled much and was a voluminous writer; he made
many friendships with men celebrated in his day, and his advice and
assistance were sought and gratefully acknowledged by Dugdale, Evelyn,
Ray and Willughby, Merrett, Sir Robert Paston (afterwards Earl of
Yarmouth), Ashmole, Aubrey, and others; but his general correspondence
does not now concern us, my object being to supply in a convenient form
what I believe will be acceptable to modern naturalists, namely, an
accurate transcript of his notes and letters on the "Natural History of
the County of Norfolk."
These notes and letters were first published by Simon Wilkin in his
Edition of Sir Thomas Browne's Works in 1835, but they were not treated
from a naturalist's point of view, and in some places were not correctly
transcribed, added to which, in the vast mass of matter contained in
Wilkin's four large volumes (or in the closely printed three volumes of
Bohn's Edition), these interesting passages are in danger of being
overlooked or are inconvenient for reference. Two letters, moreover,
were needed to make the correspondence with Merrett complete, and these
I have been enabled to supply. I hope also that my explanatory notes,
which I trust will not be deemed too voluminous, will be found more
useful than the necessarily brief notes furnished by Wilkin and his
collaborators. Furthermore, I think that the retention of the original
spelling and punctuation may lend a charm to the quaintness of the
language which is in a measure destroyed by any attempt at modernising.
There is much that is interesting bearing upon Natural Science scattered
throughout Browne's writings, especially in his _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_,
or inquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, first published in 1646, and
the reader cannot fail to be impressed not only with the extent of his
classical knowledge but also with the shrewdness with which he pursued
his original investigations; but here it is only proposed to deal with
certain manuscript notes and a series of rough notes for, or copies of,
letters addressed to Dr. Christopher Merrett, the author of the _Pinax
Rerum Naturalium Britannicarum_. These, as remarked by their editor,
with regard to some other manuscripts published[A] in 1684, under the
title of "Certain Miscellany Tracts," were doubtless "rather the
_diversions_ than the _Labours_ of his Pen; and ... He did, as it
were, drop down his Thoughts of a sudden, in those spaces of vacancy
which he snatch'd from those very many occasions which gave him hourly
interruption;" but I cannot in this instance agree with the conclusion
arrived at by the same writer that it "seemeth probable that He designed
them for publick use," for they appear to be the rough drafts or
memoranda used in the production of the finished letters (which are
unfortunately not forthcoming), and were never intended for publication
in their present crude form, thus rendering pardonable such annotations
as I have ventured to add. But before proceeding further it is necessary
to consider briefly the time and circumstances under which they were
written, and the state of what passed for Natural Science at that
period.
[A] The "Miscellany Tracts" were put forth by "Tho. Tenison"
(1636-1715), who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, but
was then the Rector of a London parish, St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
He had been a Norwich school-boy, and subsequently minister of St.
Peter's Mancroft. He was doubtless well acquainted with Browne and
his family, and hence his reference in the preface quoted to "the
_Lady_ and _Son_ of the excellent Authour," who, he says,
"deliver'd" the papers to him.
Browne wrote early in the second half of the seventeenth century, during
a period of great awakening in the study of Nature. Hitherto it could
hardly be said that a direct appeal to the works of Nature had been the
prevailing method. Aristotle was still the established authority, and
commentaries on his works occupied the minds of men to the exclusion of
original investigation, notwithstanding that this great philosopher had
himself, both by precept and example, urged the importance of direct
observation and inquiry; the Mediæval school of thought still prevailed
and cramped every effort at progress. How keenly Browne lamented this
spirit of slavish adherence to tradition may be judged from a passage in
one of his Essays in the "Vulgar Errors" condemning the obstinate
adherence unto antiquity; he writes, "but the mortallist enemy unto
knowledge, and that which hath done the greatest execution upon truth,
hath been a peremptory adhesion unto authority; and more especially the
establishing of our belief upon the dictates of antiquity. For (as every
capacity may observe) most men of ages present, so supersticiously do
look upon ages past, that the authorities of one exceed the reason of
the other." In another place he argues that the present should be the
age of authority, seeing that we possess all the wisdom of the ancients
which has come down to us, with that of our own times added. In fact,
Browne's motto appears to have been "prove all things and hold fast
only to that which is good."[B]
[B] There was one form of ancient authority before which Browne
bowed down with absolute and unquestioning submission--the
authority of the Scriptures. In all secular matters he was ever
ready to point the lance and do battle, but all that appealed to
him on what he regarded as divine authority was beyond the pale,
and it never entered into his mind to submit it to the test of
reason. In the "Religio Medici" he declares his devoted adherence
first to the guidance of Scripture, and secondly to the Articles of
the Church, "whatsoever is beyond, as points indifferent, I observe
according to the rules of my private reason;" and again, "where the
Scripture is silent, the Church is my text; where that speaks 'tis
but my comment; where there is a joint silence of both I borrow not
the rules of my religion from Rome or Geneva, but the dictates of
my own reason." This implicit adherence to the literal text of
Scripture led to his--shall I say active belief in, or passive
acceptance of, the existence of Witchcraft, and thus to the only
act in an otherwise blameless life which we must regard with regret
and astonishment. I refer to the consenting part he took in the
doing to death of two poor women at Bury St. Edmund's in the year
1664. It is my business to act as Browne's exponent, not as his
apologist, but it must be borne in mind that in his day the "higher
criticism" was a thing unheard of, and that the literal sense of
the English translation of the Bible was accepted as binding not
only by him but by the vast majority of the people, including the
most learned men of the time. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to
live" was a plain command, and given a witch the believer's duty
was also plain; that there _had_ been witches there was ample
scriptural evidence, but there was none that the days of witchcraft
had passed away. Browne only shared this belief with his pious
friend, the venerable Bishop Hall, and many men equally devout
according to their lights; he makes no secret of the fact and acts
in accordance with his convictions and the plain authority of
Scripture. Thus it came about that these conscientious but mistaken
men were induced to render possible, if not actually to
countenance, the fiendish cruelties perpetrated by their
unscrupulous allies. In matters which he considered less
authoritative his views were so liberal as to gain for him the
stigma of infidel or heretic; but let a man govern his thoughts and
actions by the private rules Browne laid down for his own guidance
(vol. iv., p. 420), and it would be hard to regard him as otherwise
than a God-fearing man, striving to live up to his profession.
Aristotle, whose works on Natural History have descended to us in a very
imperfect condition, lived in 385-322 B.C., and it was not till A.D. 79
that the _Historia Naturalis_ of Pliny the Elder the next great work,
which has survived till our days, was completed, and by some of those
most competent to form a judgment the additions which he made were not
in all cases improvements. Other writers followed, but their productions
were of little value, and it was not till the year 1544 that William
Turner published at Cologne what Professor Newton describes as "the
first commentary on the birds mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny conceived
in anything like the spirit that moves modern Naturalists." Turner's
book is very rare and unfortunately at present beyond the reach of most
modern students. No attempt at systematic arrangement, as now
understood, was made until the _Histoire de la Nature des Oyseaux_ of
Pierre Belon (Bellonius) appeared at Paris in 1555, for the much greater
work of Conrad Gesner, being the third book of his _Historia Animalium_,
which was published at Zurich in the same year, and treated of Birds,
followed, more or less closely, an alphabetical plan which brought upon
him the censure of Aldrovandus, three of whose sixteen folio volumes
forming the _Historia Naturalium_ bore the title of _Ornithologiæ hoc
est de Avibus Historiæ, Libri XII._, and were brought out at Bologna
between the years 1599 and 1603. The _Historia Naturalis_ of John
Jonston, or "Jonstonus" (1603-1675), originally published in four
sections between the years 1649 and 1653, ran through several editions,
and was a popular book in the seventeenth century; it is frequently
referred to by Browne, but is a work of very little originality. Though
all these authors undoubtedly influenced their successors, it may be
fairly said that it was Browne's contemporaries and fellow-countrymen,
Francis Willughby and John Ray, who laid the first solid foundation of
systematic zoology in their _Ornithologia_ and _Historia Piscium_,
published in 1676 and 1686 respectively; but dying in 1682, Browne was
indebted to neither of them, though he doubtless exercised much
influence over them, and he had to use the clumsy descriptive
terminology then in vogue.[C] Let me illustrate this by a single
example. In one of his letters to Merrett he names a "little elegant
sea plant" (probably _Halecium halecinum_, a species of Hydroid
Zoophyte), "_Fucus marinus vertebratus pisciculi spinum referens
ichthyorachius_, or what you think fit." On another occasion Merrett
thus expresses his approval of Browne's efforts in this direction: "You
have very well named the _rutilus_ and expressed fully the cours to bee
taken in the imposition of names, viz: the most obvious and most
peculiar difference to the ey or any other sens." We can hardly conceive
the difficulties these pioneers of Natural Science had to contend with;
the works of their predecessors were so indefinite as to be of little
value in determining species; they had to depend upon the vague
descriptions of fowlers and others; the same bird would probably be
known in half a dozen different localities by as many different names,
and since no satisfactory mode of preserving specimens had then been
discovered, examples for comparison were not available. If inextricable
confusion arose with regard to such a bird as the Osprey, well might
Browne write with regard to those less readily characterized, "I confess
for such little birds I am much unsatisfied on the names given to many
by countrymen, and uncertaine what to give them myself, or to what
classis of authors cleerly to reduce them. Surely there are many found
among us which are not described; and therefore such which you cannot
well reduce, may (if at all) be set down after the exacter nomination of
small birds as yet of uncertain class of knowledge."
[C] In 1735 appeared the first edition of the _Systema Naturæ of
Linnæus_ which, meagre as it was, ushered in a more definite system
of classification, whilst his invention of the binomial method of
nomenclature, first used by him in the tenth edition of that work
published in 1758, contributed not a little in reducing to order
what had hitherto been a chaos, although in his classification of
birds he for the most part followed his predecessor Ray.
I must ask pardon for this digression, but my object has been to show
the difficulties Browne had to contend with and to emphasise the
originality which pervades all his observations, a characteristic so
conspicuously absent in the work of most of his predecessors. I should
like also to call attention to his references to the migratory habits of
many species of birds, a phenomenon attracting little notice in his day,
but one which can be so readily observed on the coast of Norfolk. These
remarks were penned at a time when hibernation in a state of torpidity
was thoroughly believed in--an idea of which even Gilbert White a
hundred years later could not thoroughly divest himself. In his tract on
"Hawks and Falconry," Browne further says: "How far the hawks, merlins,
and wild-fowl which come unto us with a north-west [east?] wind in
Autumn, fly in a day, there is no clear account: but coming over the sea
their flight hath been long or very speedy. For I have known them to
light so weary on the coast, that many have been taken with dogs, and
some knocked down with staves and stones." Further than this, he knew
the seasons of their appearing--the Hobby "coming to us in the spring,"
the Merlin "about autumn." His frequent mention of anatomical
peculiarities and of his dissections of many birds and beasts clearly
prove his passion for original research, and the frequent records of the
contents of the stomachs of the birds which he had the opportunity of
examining was a mode of obtaining exact information as to the nature of
their food, which I imagine was not common in those days.
How highly Browne was esteemed by his contemporaries may be judged from
the acknowledgments of his assistance by Dugdale, Evelyn (who visited
him in Norwich in 1671), and others; and Ray especially mentions his
indebtedness to "the deservedly famous Sir Thomas Browne, Professor of
Physic in the City of Norwich." His letters to his son, Dr. Edward
Browne, are full of instructions as to the course of study he should
pursue, and subsequently, when the latter became celebrated and was
appointed Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, it was still to his
father that he looked for advice in his hospital practice and in the
preparation of his lectures. Browne was proud of his adopted county, a
feeling evidently shared by his son, and I trust I may be pardoned for
quoting the concluding passage of the latter's account of a tour into
Derbyshire, wherein he expresses a sentiment which survives with
undiminished force in the breast of many a Norfolk man in the present
day. There is a very interesting account of his crossing the Wash on
leaving Lynn for Boston, but on his return to Norwich in September,
1662, he thus concludes his journal: "Give me leave to say this much:
let any stranger find mee out so pleasant a country, such good way
[roads], large heath, three such places as Norwich. Yar [Yarmouth] and
Lin [Lynn], in any county of England, and I'll bee once again a vagabond
to visit them."
The manuscripts of which the following selection forms a part are
contained, with a few exceptions to be named hereafter, in the Sloane
Collection in the Library of the British Museum, consisting of nearly
one hundred volumes, numbered 1825 to 1923 both inclusive. A catalogue
is given by Simon Wilkin[D] (himself a Norfolk man), by whom Browne's
collected writings were first published in a connected form, as already
mentioned, under the title of "Sir Thomas Browne's Works, including his
Life and Correspondence, edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S. London, William
Pickering. Josiah Fletcher, Norwich, 1836." 4 volumes, 8vo; the first
volume only is dated 1836, Vols. 2, 3, and 4 being dated 1835.[E] It was
here that the Notes and Letters were first given to the public. A second
edition of the "Works," also edited by Wilkin, in three closely printed
volumes, was issued in Bohn's Antiquarian Library in 1852. In the first
edition the Notes on the Birds and Fishes will be found in Vol. IV., pp.
313 to 336, and the letters to Merrett in Vol. I., pp. 393 to 408. In
the second edition both are in Vol. III., pp. 311 to 335 and pp. 502 to
513 respectively. The references here, as a rule, will be made to the
1836 edition, when otherwise Bohn's edition will be specified.
[D] _Simon Wilkin_ (1790-1862), the able editor of Sir Thomas
Browne's collected works, was born at Costessey near Norwich, in
the year 1790. He came to Norwich after his father's death in 1799,
taking up his temporary abode with his guardian, Joseph Kinghorn, a
Baptist minister of note and a prominent member of a literary
circle then existing in Norwich, by whom his education was
superintended. On arriving at man's estate and being at that time
possessed of ample means, he devoted himself to the study of
Natural History, especially to Entomology, and was the possessor of
a large collection of insects which, in the year 1827, was
purchased for the Norwich Museum at a cost of one hundred guineas,
a large sum in those days. He was one of the founders and the first
librarian of the Norfolk and Norwich Literary Institution in 1822,
also of the Norfolk and Norwich Museum in 1825, both of which
institutions (the former reunited to its parent Library, founded in
1784) are still flourishing. Wilkin was a Fellow of the Linnean
Society, also a Member of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh. In
later years the loss of the bulk of his property by a commercial
failure necessitated his turning his attention to some means of
earning a livelihood, and he established himself in Norwich as a
printer and publisher; later in life he removed to Hampstead, where
he died on 28th July, 1862, and was buried in his native village of
Costessey.
[E] Some copies of this Edition have a title-page, bearing the name
of H. G. Bohn as publisher, and the date of 1846, but differing
only in that respect.
The foot-notes in Wilkin's edition, many of them very curious,
initialled "Wr.," are by Dr. Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor (father
of the Architect of St. Paul's Cathedral), and were found on the margins
of a copy of the first edition of the _Pseudodoxia_ now preserved in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford; those initialled "G." were written for
Wilkin's first edition by the late Miss Anna Gurney, of Northrepps, near
Cromer, Norfolk.
The first papers to which I shall refer are a series of rough notes
contained for the most part in volume 1830 of the Sloane MSS., the first
portion being devoted to _Birds_ found in Norfolk, followed by a similar
series relating to marine and freshwater _Fishes_, including a few
marine invertebrata and plants. They are written on one side only of
foolscap paper, the portion relating to Birds occupying folios 5 to 19
inclusive, folios 1 to 4 consist of two inserted letters from Merrett
to Browne (see Appendix A.), which are printed by Wilkin in his first
edition, Vol. I., pp. 442-5. The notes on Fishes are in the same volume
of manuscripts, folios 23 to 38; but there are some irregularities which
will be explained as they occur. The whole of the notes are very roughly
written, and present the appearance of a commonplace book, in which the
entries were made as the events occurred to the writer, being quite
devoid of any system or arrangement. The entries doubtless extend over
several years, but it is impossible to fix the dates on which they were
made, the only internal evidence I can find being that speaking of the
occurrence of a certain shark he states it was taken "this year, 1662,"
and on the next page of the MS. there is the record of the occurrence of
a sun-fish in the year 1667; this latter, however, is evidently an
interpolation. A few pages further on there is the record of what he
calls a large mackerel, "taken this year, 1668," but this also is an
addition. We may take it, I think, that most of the notes were made
about the year 1662, but that they were added to on various occasions up
to 1668, in which year his first letter to Merrett is dated. It has been
suggested that these notes were prepared in the interest of Dr. Merrett
for his use in an enlarged edition of his _Pinax_, but the remark in his
first letter to this correspondent, "I have observed and taken notice of
many animals in these parts whereof 3 years agoe a learned gentleman of
this country wished me to give him some account, which while I was doing
ye gentleman my good friend died," clearly shows that they were
originally prepared for another purpose, although they eventually
furnished the materials for his letters to Merrett, but who his deceased
friend was it seems now useless to conjecture, although it would be
interesting to know. The notes were certainly never intended to appear
in their present form, and failing their use by Merrett which never took
place, the information they contained was, as we know, of great service
to Ray and Willughby.
Browne's correspondent, Dr. Christopher Merrett, was born at Winchcomb,
in Gloucestershire, on the 16th of February, 1614. He graduated B.A. at
Oriel College, Oxford, about the year 1635; M.B. 1636; M.D. 1643. Was
elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1651, and was made
first Keeper of the Library and Museum; he was Censor of the College
seven times. Having entered into litigation with the College with
regard to his appointment, which was considered by that body to have
terminated when the Library was destroyed by the great fire, he was
defeated, and in 1681 expelled from his fellowship. He died in London in
1695. ("Dict. of Nat. Biog.") Merrett was the author of several works on
various subjects, as well as of the _Pinax_, and a translation of the
"Art of Glass" referred to further on. His _Pinax Rerum Naturalium
Britannicarum_, said to have been brought out in 1666, contained the
earliest list of British Birds ever published, but it is little more
than a bare list. Copies bearing the date of 1666 are very rare, and it
is believed the edition was burned in a fire at the publishers; but
Professor Newton ("Dict. of Birds," Introduction, p. xviii.) says that
in 1667 there were two issues of a reprint; one, nominally a second
edition, only differs from the others in having a new title-page, an
example doubtless of what Wilkin severely condemns as "that contemptible
form of lying under which publishers have endeavoured to persuade the
public of the rapidity of their sales." Merrett was contemplating a new
and improved edition of his work when, as Wilkin happily puts it, "in an
auspicious moment he sought the assistance of Browne, whose liberal
response is evidenced in the [drafts of the] letters still fortunately
extant, but either superseded by the more learned labours of Willughby
and Ray, or laid aside on account of the perplexities in which Merrett
became involved with the College of Physicians, the _Pinax_ never
attained an enlarged edition. Had Browne completed and published his own
'Natural History of Norfolk,' he might have contended for precedency
among the writers of County Natural Histories with [his friend] Dr.
Robert Plot,[F] who published the earliest of such works--those of
Oxford and Staffordshire, in 1677 and 1686 respectively. He seems,
however, to have preferred contributing to the labours of those whom he
considered better naturalists than himself; and in his third attempt
thus to render his observations useful he had somewhat better success.
He placed his materials, including a number of coloured drawings, at
the disposal of Ray, the father of systematic Natural History in Great
Britain, who has acknowledged the assistance he derived from him in his
editions of Willughby's 'Ornithology' and 'Ichthyology,' especially in
the former. But Browne, it seems, found it more easy to lend than to
recover such materials; for he complains, several years afterwards, that
these drawings, of whose safe return he was assured, both by Ray and by
their mutual friend, Sir Philip Skippon, had not been sent back to
him."[G]
[F] Dr. Robert Plot (1640-1696) was born at Sutton Barne, Kent, in
1640; he graduated M.A. in 1664, and D.C.L. at Oxford in 1671. He
was chiefly noted as an antiquary, and was Secretary of the Royal
Society from 1682 to 1684, also the first custodian of the
Ashmoleian Museum and Professor of Chemistry at Oxford. In 1677 he
published his "Natural History of Oxfordshire," the first local
work of the kind which appeared; it was illustrated by sixteen
plates. In 1686 he also published "The Natural History of
Staffordshire," and subsequently many other books and papers. He
was evidently acquainted with most of the learned men of his time.
Plot died at his family estate Sutton Barne, on the 30th of April,
1696, and was buried at Borden in Kent. Dr. Plot was a friend of
Browne's, and his companion in a tour in England in 1693.--"Dict.
Nat. Biog."
[G] See letter to his son, Dr. Edward Browne (Wilkin, i., p. 337),
also Appendix C.
I have endeavoured to reproduce as accurately as possible the text of
the notes and letters, which, as will be seen from the example
photographed for the frontispiece of this volume, was often very
difficult to decipher. The originals of the notes and of seven of the
nine letters to Merrett, as also the two letters in Appendix A., are in
the Sloane Collection of MSS. in the British Museum Library; those
numbered vii. and viii., as well as two letters in Appendix D., which
have not hitherto been printed, are in the Bodleian Library; and the
letter to Dugdale in Appendix B. is extracted from the "Eastern
Counties Collectanea." All the MSS. in the Sloane Collection I have
transcribed myself; of those in the Bodleian Library, No. vii. is from a
photograph, the remainder were copied for me by a person recommended as
being highly reliable. I thought it best to retain all the erasures and
interlineations in order to show as much as possible what was passing in
their author's mind: in the foot-notes I have sought to acknowledge _in
situ_ the valuable help I received from numerous correspondents to whom
my best thanks are due, but I owe a special debt of gratitude to
Professor Newton, at whose instigation the work was undertaken, for his
kind assistance and for the loan of scarce books which it was necessary
to consult in the interesting investigations needful to elucidate, if
possible, some of the obscure passages in the text, a task in which if
with the best intentions should I have sometimes failed, I must ask the
reader's indulgence.
It may be truly said of Sir Thomas Browne that a prophet hath no honour
in his own country; the writings of this remarkable man are little known
in the city of his adoption, and a recent movement to erect a monument
to his memory has hitherto met with feeble support.
T. S.
_Norwich, December, 1901._
Notes and Letters
ON THE
Natural History of Norfolk.
NOTES[H] ON CERTAIN BIRDS FOUND IN NORFOLK.
[H] The heading adopted by Wilkin, for which I cannot find that he
had any authority, is certainly misleading, for the brief and
fragmentary notes which follow, although of great interest, can
hardly be called "An Account of the Birds (or Fishes) found in
Norfolk," as there are many species of each inhabiting or visiting
the county which must have been well-known to Browne, but of which
we find no mention.
[MSS. SLOAN. 1830. FOL. 5-19. AND 31.]
[The first four pages in the volume of Manuscript consist of two
inserted letters from Merrett to Browne (see Appendix A.); these
are on ordinary letter paper 6-1/4 inches by 7 inches. The notes
commence on folio 5 and are continued to folio 19; one leaf,
containing an account of the Roller (numbered 31), is bound up
with the notes on the Fishes, &c., which are numbered
consecutively with the Birds; the paper of the volume is
foolscap, 11-1/2 by 7-1/2 inches, and written, with a few
exceptions, which appear to be subsequent additions, on the
right-hand opening only. There are four folios after the Birds,
the first of which is blank; the others, numbered 20, 21, and
22, contain rough memoranda on the Birds and Fishes, the
substance of which is embodied in the other notes; the Fishes
commence on folio 23. There are many erasures, interlineations,
and substituted words which indicate hasty writing, and the
alterations are not in all cases complete, thus rendering the
sense occasionally obscure; these emendations I have thought it
best to preserve as indicating the author's line of thought. In
the foot-notes which follow I have endeavoured to identify the
species treated of. This, notwithstanding the kind assistance of
the friends whose help I gratefully acknowledge, I may not in
all cases have successfully accomplished; the conclusions
arrived at are occasionally only conjectural, and it may be that
in some instances I have erred. Should such be the case I must
plead in excuse the difficulty arising from vagueness of
description, the frequent use of vernacular names which have
long since become obsolete (_see Note_ 22), and the imperfection
of the record. This especially applies to the Marine Animals,
and one of my correspondents rightly remarks that "the early
accounts of marine beasts are so vague, and the figures (where
referred to) so incomplete and often fanciful, that it is
difficult even to make out the family, to say nothing of genera
and species." Any assistance or correction in this respect would
be gladly received by me.]
[_Fol. 5._] I willingly obey your comands[1] in setting down such birds
fishes & other animals wch for many years I have observed in Norfolk.
[1] With regard to the probable origin of these notes (see
"Introduction," p. xxi.). The opening passage was probably
addressed to the deceased correspondent who had asked his
assistance, whereas his first letter to Merrett seems to indicate
that the offer of help to him came spontaneously from Browne ("I
take ye boldness to salute you," &c.), and was not in response to
Merrett's request.
Beside the ordinarie birds which keep constantly in the country many are
discouerable both in winter & summer wch are of a migrant nature &
exchange their seats according to the season.[2] those wch come in the
spring coming for the most part from the southward those wch come in the
Autumn or winter from the northward. so that they are obserued to come
in great flocks with a north east wind & to depart with a south west.
nor to come [in _struck out_] only in flocks of one kind butt teals
woodcocks felfars thrushes & small birds to come & light together. for
the most part some hawkes & birds of pray attending them.
[2] Browne seems to have had on the whole a fairly correct idea
with regard to the migratory movements of the birds on the Norfolk
coast where peculiar facilities exist for such observations, but of
course he could have formed no notion of the extent to which they
prevail, perhaps no species being altogether sedentary. The general
line of the autumn migration for those which spend their summer in
Northern Europe is south or south-west, returning in the spring by
the reverse route; those which visit us in spring from Western
Europe, or countries lying still more to the eastward, adopt what
is known as the east to west route, and reverse the direction in
the autumn; but this latter is as nothing compared with the vast
number of immigrants by both routes in the early autumn, at which
time, especially, the movements are so exceedingly complex that it
would be impossible here to attempt to explain them, and the reader
must be referred to Mr. Eagle Clarke's digest of the Reports of the
Migration Committee of the British Association ("Report Brit. Ass.
for 1876," pp. 451-477).
The great & noble kind of Agle calld Aquila Gesneri[3] I have not seen
in this country but one I met with [with _crossed out_] in this country
brought from ireland wch I [presented unto _struck out_] kept 2 yeares,
feeding it with whelpes cattes ratts & the like. in all that while not
giving it any water wch I afterwards presented unto the [colledge of
physitians at London _struck out_] my worthy friend Dr Scarburgh.
[3] The "Aquila" of Gesner here referred to is evidently the Golden
Eagle, which species Browne is careful to mention that he had not
met with in this county, and that the specimen he sent to Dr.
Scarburgh, more than once mentioned, was brought from Ireland. This
bird has never been recorded alive in Norfolk. Immature
White-tailed Eagles, the "Halyætus" of the text, still occur almost
every autumn or winter on this coast, but no mature example has
hitherto been killed. Browne's friend, Sir Charles Scarburgh
(1616-1694), was born in London, and is buried at Cranford, in
Middlesex. He seems to have been greatly distinguished as an
anatomist and physician. He was a friend of William Harvey, whom he
succeeded as Lumleyan Lecturer at the College of Physicians (of
which he was elected a fellow in 1650). Harvey, out of regard for
his "lovinge friend" Dr. Scarburgh, bequeathed to him his "little
silver instruments of surgerie" and his velvet gown. ("Dict. of
Nat. Biog.") The Golden Eagle sent him by Browne was kept in the
College of Physicians in Warwick Lane for two years.
of other sorts of Agles there are severall kinds especially of the
Halyætus or fenne Agles some of 3 yards & a quarter from the extremitie
of the wings. whereof one being taken aliue grewe so tame that it went
about the yard feeding on fish redherrings flesh & any offells without
the least trouble.
There is also a lesser sort of Agle called an ospray[4] wch houers about
the fennes & broads & will dippe his [foot _crossed out_] claws & take
up a fish oftimes for wch his foote is made of an extraordinarie
roughnesse for the better fastening & holding of it & the like they will
do unto cootes.
[4] This species is a not unfrequent autumn visitor to the Broads
and Rivers of Norfolk. Browne names it correctly, but there was
much confusion with regard to this species in the minds of the old
authors. Willughby knew the bird and calls it the "Bald Buzzard,"
but in describing its nesting site and eggs (probably not on his
own authority,) evidently confounds it with the Marsh Harrier, for
he says that "it builds upon the ground among reeds, and lays three
or four large white eggs of a figure exactly elliptical, lesser
than hens' eggs." _See Note_ 6.
[_Fol._ 6.] Aldrovandus takes particular notice of the great number of
Kites[5] about London & about the Thames. wee are not without them heare
though not in such numbers. there are also the gray & bald Buzzard[6]
[wch the all wth _crossed out_] of all wch the great number of broad
waters & warrens makes no small number & more than in woodland counties.
[5] The Glede, or Puttock, of Turner, once so plentiful, is now
only an extremely rare visitor to Norfolk. In 1815, it appears from
Hunt ("British Ornithology"), not to have been uncommon, but the
same authority in his list of Norfolk Birds contributed to Stacey's
"History" of that County, speaks of the Kite as having in 1829
become extremely rare. It probably ceased to nest in this County
about the year 1830, or perhaps a little later. Browne's reason for
its comparative scarcity about the City of Norwich, viz., the
abundance of Ravens mentioned at p. 27 _infra_, is very interesting
to us in the present day when Kites and Ravens are almost equally
rare.
[6] It seems likely that Browne here refers to two species of
Harrier, the Grey Buzzard being the male of the Hen Harrier
(including of course Montagu's Harrier which was not discriminated
till long after) in its grey adult plumage, whereas the Marsh
Harrier, with its light yellow head, to which the word "bald" as
then used might well be applied, would stand for the "Bald
Buzzard." The Harriers, which were till long after the time he
wrote extremely numerous, are generally called "Buzzards" by the
natives, and it will be noticed at p. 15 _infra_, that what is
doubtless intended for the Marsh Harrier is spoken of as an enemy
to the Coots; also at p. 56, it is said that young Otters "have
been found in the Buzzards nests," a very likely circumstance with
so fierce a bird, and one of which I have an impression I have
heard in recent years. The Hen Harrier is now an extremely rare
bird with us; the Marsh Harrier still occasionally nests in the
Broads, and Montagu's Harrier now and then attempts to rear a
brood, but even should the parents succeed in escaping it is very
seldom they carry their young with them. Professor Newton has
kindly favoured me with the following additional interesting note
on this bird. "The Marsh Harrier is certainly the 'Balbushardus' of
Turner (1544), which, though he says it is bigger and longer than
the ordinary _Buteo_, has a white patch on the head and is
generally of a dark brown (_fuscus_) colour, hunting the banks of
rivers, pools, and marshes, living by the capture of Ducks, and the
black birds which the English call Coots (_Coutas_). This he,
Turner, has himself very often seen, and he describes its habits
correctly; adding that it also takes Rabbits occasionally. Gesner,
1555, quotes Turner, but refers the Bald Buzzard to the Osprey
(which he figures), and so the mistake began. Certainly Willughby's
Bald Buzzard is the Osprey, but his book was not published when
Browne wrote."
Cranes[7] are often seen here in hard winters especially about the
champian & feildie part it seems they have been more plentifull for in a
bill of fare when the maior entertaind the duke of norfolk I meet with
Cranes in a dish.
[7] In the present day the Crane is only a rare straggler to this
country generally at the seasons of its migration; that it was in
times past abundant in suitable localities there is ample evidence;
that it also bred in the fens of the Eastern Counties there is no
reason to doubt, but very little direct evidence is forthcoming,
therefore every fact bearing upon this point is of value. Had Sir
Thomas Browne written with the intention of publishing his
observations he would doubtless have told us much about this grand
bird, which would have been of the greatest interest to modern
ornithologists, but even the above brief remarks, as will be seen,
are worthy of note.
With regard to the occurrence of the Crane in the fens of East
Anglia we have the following evidence; its fossil remains have been
found in the peat at Burwell, in Cambridgeshire, and in excavating
the docks at Lynn. Turner, in his "Avium Historia," Coloniæ, 1544,
speaks of having seen young Cranes in this country, and as he
passed fifteen years at Cambridge, it was probably in that
neighbourhood that he met with them; then again there is the Act of
Parliament, passed in 1534 (25th Hen. VIII. c. ii.), prohibiting
the taking of their eggs (amongst those of other species) under a
penalty of twenty pence. All this is well known, but being desirous
to ascertain whether any reference to the Crane was to be found in
the records of the Corporation of Norwich, Mr. J. C. Tingey,
F.S.A., the custodian of the Muniment Room, at my request, most
kindly searched the accounts of the City Chamberlain between the
years 1531 and 1549. He there found numerous entries of sums
expended in the purchase of cranes, swans, porpoises, &c., as
presents to the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and others, and
amongst them, on the 6th of June, 1543, a charge for a "yong pyper
crane" from Hickling, which appears conclusive evidence of the
breeding of this bird near Norwich at that time. (See "Transactions
of the N. and N. Nat. Soc.," vii., pp. 160-170.)
In Wilkin's Edition of the Notes the statement, "I met" with Cranes
in a dish should be, "I meet with," &c., as it is in the original.
The occasion referred to was probably an entertainment given by the
Mayor of Norwich, on the Guild day in 1663, which in that year fell
on the 19th June; at this banquet Henry, Duke of Norfolk and the
Hon. Henry Howard were present, and the latter presented to the
City a silver basin and ewer of the value of £60. Can it be that
even at that time young Cranes were to be obtained? otherwise the
middle of June seems a most unseasonable time for such a dish; for
in a copy of a curious old manuscript, dated 1605, and published in
the 13th Volume of "Archæologia" (p. 315), entitled "A Breviate
touching the Order and Government of a Nobleman's house," &c.,
there is a "Monthlie Table, for a Diatorie" for each month in the
year, and the Crane appears only in the tables from November till
March inclusive. The modern gourmet would view with disgust some of
the dishes included in this "diatorie" if set before him--only to
mention among birds, auks, stares, petterells, puffines, didapers,
and martins. The crane being "in the dish" must not be subjected to
the vulgar process of "kervyng," but in the stilted heraldic
language of the day must be "desplayed," whereas a heron must be
"dismembered" and a bittern "unjointed." The price of a crane
varied from 3_s._ 4_d._ to 5_s._, and a fat swan from 3_s._ to
4_s._ The sum of 6_d._ mentioned in the le Strange Household-book,
in the year 1533 (see "Archæologia," vol. xxv., p. 529), quoted in
Yarrell's "British Birds," iii., p. 180, was only the reward for
bringing in a crane killed on the estate. That Cranes must at times
have been numerous in Norfolk in the sixteenth century is evident,
for in an account of the presents sent to William Moore, Esq., of
Loseley, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter, on 3rd
November, 1567, Mr. Balam, "out of Marshland in Norfolk," sent him
nine cranes, nine swans, and sixteen bitterns, with a large number
of other wild-fowl. "Archæologia," vol. xxxvi., p. 36.
In hard winters elkes[8] a kind of wild swan are seen in no small
numbers. in whom & not in co[=m]on swans is remarkable that strange
recurvation of the windpipe through the sternon. & the same is also
obseruable in cranes. tis probable they come very farre for all the
northern discouerers have [ha _struck out_] obserued them in the
remotest parts & like diuers [&] other northern birds if the winter bee
mild they co[=m]only come no further southward then scotland if very
hard they go lower & seeke more southern places. wch is the cause that
sometimes wee see them not before christmas or the hardest time of
winter.
[8] The "Elke" is an obsolete name for the Wild Swan (_Cygnus
musicus_), which occurs in the present day in the same numbers and
under precisely similar circumstances as Browne describes; but of
course this was the only species of wild swan known to him. The
remarkable recurvation of the trachea within the keel of the
sternum, which also prevails to a greater or less degree in four
out of the five or six species of Cygnus found in the Northern
Hemisphere, did not escape Browne's notice, although he was not the
first to describe it, and he rightly observes that this peculiarity
is absent in the Mute Swan (_C. olor_), but exists in a different
and even more exaggerated form in the Crane. He, however, was
mistaken as to the extreme northerly range which he assigns to this
species. So marked a feature as the absence of the "berry" on the
beak of this species did not escape Browne's observation, and he
refers to it in the eighth letter to Merrett, who in his second
letter to Browne remarks "the difference in the elk's bill by you
signified is remarkable to distinguish it from others of its kind,"
indicating that this distinction was previously unknown to him.
A white large & strong billd fowle called a Ganet[9] which seemes to
bee the greater sort of Larus. whereof I met with one kild by a
greyhound neere swaffam another in marshland while it fought & would not
bee forced to take wing another intangled in an herring net wch taken
aliue was fed with herrings for a while it may be named Larus maior
Leucophæopterus as being white & the top of the wings browne.
[9] As a rule the Gannet does not approach the shore, except to
breed, but follows the shoals of fish far out at sea. The
circumstance mentioned by Browne is by no means singular, and
several such instances of storm-driven Gannets being captured far
inland are recorded. The "Scotch Goose, _Anser scoticus_,"
mentioned further on (p. 13 _infra_), is also in all probability
intended for the Gannet; it is the _Anser Bassanus sive Scoticus_
of Jonston. The "Marshland" here mentioned is a tract of country
reclaimed in ancient times from the sea, lying to the west of the
town of Lynn, of some 57,000 acres in extent, and bordering upon
the estuary of the Wash.
[_Fol. 7._] In hard winters I have also met with that large & strong
billd fowle wch clusius describeth by the name of Skua Hoyeri[10] [fr
_struck out_] sent him from the faro Island by Hoierus a physitian. one
whereof was shot at Hickling while 2 thereof were feeding upon a dead
horse.
[10] Willughby ("Ornithology," English Ed., p. 348) gives a good
description of the Great Skua (_Stercorarius catarrhactes_) under
the name of _Catarracta_, a skin of which he says was sent him by
Dr. Walter Needham, and rightly identified it with the Skua which
Hoier sent to Clusius, but his figure is evidently drawn from a
skin of the Great Black-backed Gull. Hoier, whose name so often
occurs about this time in connection with birds from the north, was
a physician, living at Bergen in Norway. The Great Skua still
breeds in sadly reduced numbers on the Shetland and Faröe Islands,
but is rarely met with in Norfolk.
As also that [strong _struck out_] large & strong billd fowle [Clusius
nameth _struck out_] spotted like a starling wch clusius nameth Mergus
maior farroensis[11] as frequenting the faro islands seated above
shetland. one whereof I sent unto my worthy friend Dr Scarburgh.
[11] The bird here mentioned is doubtless the Great Northern Diver,
_Colymbus glacialis_. In another place Browne again refers to it as
_Mergus maximus Farrensis_, which Clusius ("Exotic.," p. 102) calls
_Mergus maximus Farrensis_, a name used by Willughby as a synonym
for his "Greatest Speckled Diver or Loon" (p. 341). This bird is
known to our fishermen as the Herring Loon, the Red-throated and
perhaps also the Black-throated Divers being called Sprat Loons. It
is a pity Browne's "draught" is not forthcoming.
Here is also the pica marina[12] or seapye many sorts of Lari,[13]
seamewes & cobs. the Larus maior in great abundance [about _struck out_]
in [_written above_] herring time about yarmouth.
[12] The Oyster Catcher, or Sea Pie, is found in greater numbers on
the north-west portion of the County of Norfolk than on the eastern
shore; it breeds occasionally about Wells, where it is universally
known as the "Dickey-bird."
[13] Browne here refers to the family in general terms. The various
species of Gulls in their different stages of plumage were very
puzzling to the Ornithologists of the last century, and it is often
extremely difficult to say to what individual species they refer.
By _Larus major_ he would probably mean the Black-backed and
Herring Gulls which are found on the shore all the year round, most
frequently in the immature plumage, but they most abound "in
herring time." By far the commonest species at all times is
Browne's _Larus alba_ or Puet, the Black-headed Gull. Large flocks
of this species and _L. canus_ frequent Breydon and the tidal
shores, especially the young birds of the year. There are now two
large breeding-places of the Black-headed Gull in Norfolk, a very
old-established one at Scoulton Mere, and a more recent colony at
Hoveton Broad. The former extensive gullery at Horsey, mentioned by
Browne, has long since been banished by the drainage of the marsh
they frequented, and it is probable that a small colony which bred
on Ormesby Broad some forty years ago, owed its origin to their
banishment from Horsey. They, in their turn, deserted Ormesby on
the erection of the works for supplying Yarmouth with water about
the year 1855, and fixed upon Hoveton as their new home, in which
place, as at Scoulton, they are carefully preserved.
Professor Newton has been kind enough to furnish me with the
following note on the Terns. "_Larus cinereus_ of Aldrovandus (and
afterwards of Jonston), is said to be of three kinds: one with red
legs, apparently the Black-headed Gull, and figured by Jonston, the
second with yellow legs and a slender curved black bill, the third
with a pointed scarlet bill. Both these last were most likely
Terns--and all these were grey above and white below. Gesner quotes
Turner for _Sterna_, and there is no doubt that his bird of that
name was a Black Tern; but Gesner says that it is the _Stirn_ of
the Frisians, and figures a white and grey bird with a black head
only (most likely a Common Tern, but possibly one of the larger
species), as Sterna, thus using the word in a more general sense,
and it may have been so used in Browne's time. I see no
impossibility in people having thought of eating Terns in those
days [as to that _see Note_ 7, p. 6 _ante_]. The Common Tern was
most likely very abundant, and we know that the Black Tern was
exceedingly common in certain reed-beds, as stated by Turner, and
noisy beyond measure." The Great and Lesser Terns still nest in one
or two localities on our coast, although as the result of great
persecution in very reduced numbers. The Black Tern, or Mire Crow,
has quite ceased to do so.
Larus alba or puets in such plentie about Horsey that they sometimes
bring them in carts to norwich & sell them at small rates. & the country
people make use of their egges in puddings & otherwise. great plentie
thereof haue bred about scoulton [mere _struck out_] meere, & from
thence sent to London.
Larus cinereus greater & smaller, butt a coars meat. commonly called
sternes.
Hirundo marina or sea swallowe a neat white & forked tayle bird butt
longer then a swallowe.
The ciconia or stork[14] I have seen in the fennes & some haue been shot
in the marshes between this and yarmouth. [See also third letter to
Merrett and Appendix D.]
[14] Although it has been met with in Norfolk, more frequently than
perhaps in any other part of England, the Stork was never other
than a rare spring and autumn visitor to Norfolk. Turner writes of
it in 1544 as unknown in England, save as a captive, and Merrett a
hundred years later says it rarely flies hither, which is equally
true at the present time. Hewittson ("Eggs of Brit. Birds," Ed. 3,
ii., p. 309; under Crane) was evidently misled by some remarks made
by Evelyn, who visited Sir Thomas Browne in Norwich in October,
1671, and says in his diary that he saw Browne's "Collection of the
eggs of all the fowl and birds he could procure; that country,
especially the promontory of Norfolk, being frequented, as he said,
by several birds which seldom or never go further into the land--as
cranes, storks, eagles, and a variety of water-fowl." From this
Hewitson infers that the Stork bred in Norfolk, a construction
which the somewhat ambiguously worded passage will certainly not
bear. I imagine collections of eggs were not very common in
Browne's time.
[_Fol. 8._] The platea or shouelard,[15] wch build upon the topps of
high trees. they haue formerly built in the Hernerie at claxton &
Reedham now at Trimley in Suffolk. they come in march & are shot by
fowlers not for their meat butt the handsomenesse of the same,
remarkable in their white colour copped crowne & spoone or spatule like
bill.
[15] This interesting record has recently been supplemented by a
much earlier record of the breeding of the "Popeler," or Shovelard,
in Norfolk. Professor Newton ("Transactions of N. and N. Nat.
Soc.," vi., p. 158) has called attention to an ancient document
bearing date A.D. 1300, instituting a commission to inquire into
the harrying of the eyries of these and other birds, &c., at
Cantley and other places in Norfolk. Documents also exist, showing
that in 1523 they nested at Fulham in Middlesex, and in 1570 in
West Sussex, as pointed out by Mr. Harting in the "Zoologist" for
1877, p. 425, and 1886, p. 81, in each case constructing their
nests in trees. At what precise date this bird ceased to breed in
Norfolk and Suffolk is unknown, but Sir T. Browne's statement that
they were "shot by fowlers not for their meat, butt the
handsomenesse of the same," probably explains the circumstances
which brought about that event. The Spoonbill visits Norfolk
regularly every spring in small parties now more numerously than a
few years since, which possibly may be accounted for by the
destruction of nearly all its breeding-places in Holland, and it is
possible that with due encouragement it might again be induced to
breed in some of the localities in the Broads still suitable for
the purpose.
corvus marinus. cormorants.[16] building at Reedham upon trees from
whence King charles the first was wont to bee supplyed. beside the Rock
cormorant wch breedeth in the rocks in northerne countries & cometh to
us in the winter, somewhat differing from the other in largenesse &
whitenesse under the wings.
[16] The Cormorant continued to nest in the trees on the shore of
Fritton Lake for many years after Sir T. Browne's time. A
manuscript note in a copy of Berkenhout's "Natural History of Great
Britain and Ireland," published in 1769, is descriptive of a
Cormorant killed at Belton Decoy (near the same lake) on the 11th
September, 1775, and also states that "a vast number of these
birds, even to some thousands, roost every night upon the trees,"
being in the neighbourhood of the decoy they are never shot, and
"build their nests upon the top of these trees." According to Mr.
Lubbock ("Fauna of Norf.," Ed. 2, p. 174), "in 1825 there were many
nests at Herringfleet, also on Fritton Lake, and in 1827 not one."
We may therefore assume that they ceased to nest at Herringfleet in
1825 or 1826. It will be noticed that Browne made free use of young
Cormorants in his experiments as to the properties of certain drugs
(cf. Wilkin, iv., p. 452), which would seem to indicate that he
could obtain a plentiful supply of these birds. When the Cormorants
ceased to breed at Reedham is unknown. They are not unfrequently
seen now, generally in spring and autumn. The Rock Cormorant was
possibly the Crested Cormorant or Shag.
A sea fowl called a shearwater,[17] somewhat billed like a cormorant
butt much lesser a strong & feirce fowle houering about shipps when they
[clense _struck out_] cleanse their fish. 2 were kept 6 weekes
cra[=m]ing them with fish wch they would not feed on of themselues. the
seamen told mee they had kept them 3 weekes without meat. & I giuing
ouer to feed them found they liued 16 dayes without [any hin _struck
out_] taking any thing.
[17] Willughby's first acquaintance with the adult Manx Shearwater
("Ornithology," p. 334) was from a drawing sent him by Sir T.
Browne, who describes the bird, as above, under the accepted name
of Shearwater, and Willughby's excellent figure on plate lxvii.
(which plate I believe is not to be found in some copies of the
"Ornithology," and to which there is no reference in the text) has
all the appearance of having been drawn from life. The drawing here
referred to is mentioned by Ray in his "Collection of English words
not generally known," as having been received, with others, from
the "learned and deservedly famous Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich."
George Edwards ("Gleanings of Nat. Hist.," vii., p. 315), prior to
1764. says that he went to the British Museum and examined Browne's
"old draught," but I could not find it among any of the papers I
examined. In Browne's fourth letter to Merrett, by an error in the
transcription, he is made by Wilkin to say that he kept twenty of
these birds alive for five weeks; in the MS. it is clearly only
two.
Barnacles[18] Brants Branta [wer _struck out_] are co[=m]on
[18] Barnacle and Brent Geese as we know them, the first by no
means common here; the Wild Goose, probably _Anser cinereus_; the
Scotch Goose (_see Note_ 9), probably the Gannet; and the
Bergander, an old name for the Sheld-drake, as used by Turner in
1544, and derived from the Dutch Berg-eende, German Bergente
("Dict. Birds," p. 835). Browne's statement that this bird formerly
bred about Northwold, or as it is even now occasionally called by
the natives, "Norrold," some twenty miles from the sea; or, as he
says, in the fourth letter to Merrett, "abounding in vast and
spatious commons," is very interesting, although not a solitary
instance, for I am informed that this bird breeds in the present
day on the Gull Lake, Twig Moor, in Lincolnshire; but that it
should have chosen such a nesting site is not more surprising than
the fact of the Ring Plover, quite as strictly a marine species,
frequenting the extensive sandy warrens about Thetford and Brandon,
near the south-west border of the county, for the same purpose, as
they still continue to do. But for Browne's mention of the
circumstance we should not have been aware of this singular
departure from the normal nesting habits of the Sheld-duck, as no
tradition I believe exists on the subject, and at present it only
nests in the sand-hills in some parts of the coast of N.W.
Norfolk.
sheldrakes sheledracus jonstoni
Barganders a noble coloured fowle vulpanser wch breed in cunny burrowes
about norrold & other places.
[_Fol. 9._] Wild geese Anser ferus.
scoch goose Anser scoticus.
Goshander,[19] merganser.
[19] This evidently refers to the Goosander, which as he says in
another place most answers to the Merganser.
Mergus acutirostris speciosus or Loone an handsome & specious fowle
cristated & with diuided finne feet placed very backward and after the
manner of all such wch the Duch call [Assf _struck out_] Arsvoote.[20]
they haue a peculiar formation in the leggebone wch hath a long & sharpe
processe extending aboue the thigh bone [it _struck out_] they come
about April & breed in the broad waters so making their nest on the
water that their egges are seldom drye while they are sett on.
[20] This well describes the Great-crested Grebe, which Browne
rightly says comes to us about the month of April. Browne notices
the peculiar formation of the tibia in this family of birds, but it
had long been known. The next, named _Mergus acutirostris
cinereus_, is most likely the same species in winter plumage. The
other birds mentioned are Mergus minor, the Little Grebe or
Dabchick, and _M. serratus_, the Red-breasted Merganser, even now
known as the "Saw-bill."
Mergus acutarostris cinereus [another d _struck out_] wch seemeth to bee
a difference of the former.
Mergus minor the smaller diuers or dabchicks in riuers & broade waters.
Mergus serratus the saw billd diuer bigger & longer than a duck
distinguished from other diuers by a notable sawe bill to retaine its
slipperie pray as liuing much upon eeles whereof we haue seldome fayled
to find some in their bellies.
Diuers other sorts of diuefowle more remarkable the mustela fusca &
mustela variegata[21] the graye dunne & the variegated or partie
coloured wesell so called from the resemblance it beareth vnto a wesell
in the head.
[21] The Smew, male and female, or either in the immature plumage
are here referred to.
[_Fol. 12._[I]] many sorts of wild ducks[22] wch passe under names well
knowne unto the fowlers though of no great signification as smee [wige
_struck out_] widgeon Arts ankers noblets.
[I] Fols. 10 and 11 are (10 written on both sides) on the
"Ostridge," _vide_ Wilkin, Vol. 4, p. 337-9. The paper is a
different size, 11-1/2 by 7-1/2, and the article is evidently bound
out of place.
[22] The local names of the various Ducks are simply legion and
differ both in time and place, not to mention the confusion
occasioned by sex and season when these birds were not so well
understood as at present. Many such names are quite lost, as
"Ankers" and "Noblets," but the following are a few examples: Adult
Smew, White Nun; female or immature Smew, Wesel Coot; the Wigeon
was known as the Smee, Whewer, or Whim; the Tufted Duck, Arts or
Arps; the Gadwall, Grey Duck or Rodge; the Pochard, Dunbird; the
Shoveller, Beck or Kertlutock (Hunt); Pintail, Sea Pheasant or
Cracker; Long-tailed Duck, Mealy Bird; Golden Eye, Morillon or
Rattle-wing; Scaup, Grey-back, and on Breydon White-nosed Day Fowl;
Scoter, Whilk; Velvet Scoter, Double Scoter (Hunt); Teal, Crick;
Garganey, Summer Teal, Pied Wigeon, Cricket Teal; other names might
be mentioned, and some will be found in the notes which will
follow. _Anas platyrhincus_ here mentioned is the Shoveller. It may
seem strange that the abundance of Teal should in any way be
attributed to the number of Decoys, but such was really the case,
the quiet and shelter afforded by these extensive preserves being
very favourable to the increase of all the members of the Duck
family, especially to those breeding in their immediate
neighbourhood. In the returns of the old Decoys, Teal figured
largely; in the present day they form a very much smaller
proportion of the spoils.
the most remarkable are Anas platyrinchos [_sic_] a remarkably broad
bild duck.
And the sea phaysant holding some resemblance unto that bird [in the
tayle _crossed out_] in some fethers in the tayle.
Teale Querquedula. wherein scarce any place more abounding. the
condition of the country & the very many decoys [mo _struck out_]
especially between Norwich and the sea making this place very much to
abound in wild fowle.
fulicæ cottæ cootes[23] in very great flocks upon the broad waters. upon
the appearance of a Kite or buzzard I have seen them vnite from all
parts of the shoare in strange numbers when if the Kite stoopes neare
them they will fling up [and] spred such a flash of water up with there
wings that they will endanger the Kite. & so [es _struck out_] keepe him
of [in of _struck out_] agayne & agayne in open opposition. & an
handsome prouision they make about their nest agaynst the same bird of
praye by bending & twining the rushes & reeds so about them that they
cannot stoope at their yong ones or the damme while she setteth.
[23] In the present day the Coots have nothing to fear from Kites
and little from Moor Buzzards; it may be that it is in consequence
of this that they have discontinued the practice of twining the
rushes and reeds above their nests in the manner mentioned above as
being an unnecessary precaution. I have, however, in some cases
noticed some approach to this practice. The Coot, although fairly
numerous on the Broads, appears to be far less so than formerly.
Lubbock, in his "Fauna of Norfolk," says on asking a Broadman how
many Coots there were on Hickling Broad, his reply was, "About an
acre and a half," referring to their practice of swimming evenly at
regular distances from each other without huddling together in
dense masses, like wild-fowl.
I am indebted to Professor Newton for the following additional note
on the Coot. He says "Turner, and after him Gesner, was puzzled as
to what was the _Fulica_ of classical writers (Virgil and others),
and thought it to be some kind of Gull; but the _Fulica_ of later
authors was certainly the Coot, as shown by Gesner's figure."
Gallinula aquatica[24] more hens.
[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 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._] 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.
[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 Linnæus, 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 Laniidæ, 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_, _scarabæis 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
_ænanthe_, 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.
[44] The Crow (_Corvus corone_) is much less common in Norfolk than
formerly, but it still nests here in a few scattered localities.
_C. cornix_, the Hooded, Norway, Danish, or "Royston" Crow, is an
autumn immigrant as of yore, but not especially from the Faröe
Islands; both species (or forms as by some regarded) are immigrants
from the east, but the latter, as a rule, occupies a more northern
range than the former. The Raven (_C. corax_) is now a very rare
visitor to Norfolk; it is probable that it last nested in this
county in the year 1859. The Jackdaw, or Caddow, is common enough,
but the Chough (_Pyrrhocorax graculus_) is quite unknown in
Norfolk. Although the Magpie must have been well known to Browne I
find no mention of it in these notes.
Coruus maior Rauens in good plentie about the citty wch makes so few
Kites to bee seen hereabout. they build in woods very early & lay egges
in februarie.
Among the many monedulas or Jackdawes I could neuer in these parts
obserue the pyrrhocorax or cornish chough with red leggs & bill to bee
co[=m]only seen in Cornwall. & though there bee heere very great [num
_crossed out_] store of partridges yet [not _crossed out_] the french
Red leggd partridge[45] is not to bee met with [heere _crossed out_].
the Ralla or Rayle[46] wee haue counted a dayntie dish. as also no small
number of Quayles. the Heathpoult[47] co[=m]on in the north is vnknown
heere as also the Grous. though I haue heard some haue been seen about
Lynne. the calandrier or great [_Fol. 19_] great [_sic_] crested lark
Galerita I haue not met with heere though with 3 other sorts [of Larkes
_written above_] the ground lark woodlark & titlark.
[45] The Red-legged Partridge is now common enough; it was
introduced into the Eastern Counties at Sudbourne and Rendlesham,
in East Suffolk, in or about the year 1770, by both the Marquis of
Hertford and Lord Rendlesham. How quickly they established
themselves may be judged from the fact that in the season of 1806-7
of 1,927 Partridges killed at Rendlesham 112 were Red legs, but
they do not seem to have spread very far. A second introduction,
this time into West Suffolk, much nearer to the Norfolk border, at
and about Culford, was effected in the year 1823, and from this
centre they rapidly spread into Norfolk, in which county also
others were imported by the resident proprietors.
[46] The Land Rail (_Crex pratensis_) or Daker hen, is doubtless
here referred to, as the Water Rail has already been mentioned (p.
15 _ante_) as "a kind of _Ralla aquatica_." This bird is a summer
visitor, by no means common and very uncertain in its numbers. The
same applies to the Quail, which appears to be less frequent than
formerly, no doubt from the great destruction on the Mediterranean
coast in spring of the birds migrating to England. In the summer
and autumn of 1870 we had an unusual influx of these latter birds.
[47] How far the indigenous race of Blackgame, which undoubtedly
lingered for many years about Wolferton and Sandringham, still
exists, it is difficult to say; examples turn up occasionally, but
so many of these birds have been introduced and turned off in
different parts of the county in the course of the past forty
years, that it is impossible to speak with certainty.
Stares or starlings in great numbers. most remarkable in their [great
_crossed out_] numerous [_written above_] flocks [about the _crossed
out_] wch I haue obserued about the Autumne when they roost at night [up
_crossed out_] in the marshes in safe place upon reeds & alders. wch to
obserue I went to the marshes about sunne set. where standing by their
vsuall place of resort I obserued very many flocks flying from all
quarters. wch in lesse than an howers space came all in & settled in
innumerable [quantitie _crossed out_] numbers [_written below_] in a
small compasse.
Great varietie of finches[48] and other small birds whereof one very
small [one _crossed out_] calld a whinne bird marked with fine yellow
spotts & lesser than a wren. there is also a small bird called a chipper
somewhat resembling the former wch comes in the spring & feeds upon the
first buddings of birches & other early trees.
[48] In his fifth letter to Merrett Browne says, "I confess for
such little birds I am much unsatisfied on the names given to many
by countrymen and uncertain what to give them myself." This is
painfully apparent in the cases of the two little birds here
referred to as the "Whinne-bird" and the "Chipper." From the
description of the former, "marked with fine yellow spots and
lesser than a Wren," also with a "shining yellow spot on the back
of the head," it seems likely that the Gold-crested Wren is
intended. The Chipper, he says, "comes in the spring and feeds upon
the first buddings of birches and other early trees;" he also calls
it "_Betulæ carptor_," and says that he sends a drawing to Merrett;
a third mention is as follows: "That which I called a _Betulæ
carptor_, and should rather have called it _Alni carptor_ ... it
feeds upon alder buds, nucaments, or seeds, which grow plentifully
here; they fly in little flocks." I can only suggest that this bird
may be the Siskin, which fairly answers the description. It visits
us in small flocks on its way north very early in the year, feeding
upon the seeds of the alder, birch, and larch trees. One would
however have thought that the Siskin would have been well known to
Browne, as it evidently was to Turner, Willughby, and Ray. Merrett
mentions it under Turner's name of "Luteola."
A kind of Anthus [or _crossed out_] Goldfinch [_written above_] or
fooles coat co[=m]only calld a drawe water. finely marked with red &
yellowe & a white bill. wch they take with trap cages in norwich gardens
& fastning a chaine about them tyed to a box of water it makes a shift
with bill and legge to draw up the water unto it from the litle pot
hanging [abot the length of _crossed out_] by the chaine about a foote
[downe _crossed out_] belowe.
[The account of the Roller, which is written on smaller paper, will be
found improperly inserted among the Fishes, between pp. 30 and 32 as
follows:--]
[_Fol. 31._] On the xiiii of May 1664 a very rare bird was sent mee kild
about crostwick wch seemed to bee some kind of Jay.[49] the bill was
black strong and bigger then a Jayes somewhat yellowe clawes tippd
black. 3 before and one clawe behind the whole bird not so bigge as a
Jaye [the _crossed out_.]
[49] This note is interesting as the first record of the occurrence
of the Roller in Britain, to which country it is a rare wanderer.
Although it had long been known on the Continent, its identity
seems to have puzzled Browne, and he imagines (as did others, both
before and after him,) it to be some kind of Jay; later, in his
second letter to Merrett (January, 1668), he says that it answers
to the description of _Garrulus argentoratensis_ (the name given by
Aldrovandus to whom it was known), and calls it "the Parrot-jay."
This is five years after the original note was made, and we find
that the words _Garrulus argentoratensis_, written by the same hand
but with a different pen and ink, have been added subsequently,
doubtless as the result of further information. In another letter
he mentions having sent the bird to Merrett, but adds, "If you have
it before I should bee content to have it againe otherwise you may
please keep it."
The head neck & throat of a violet colour the back upper parts of the
wing of a russet yellowe the fore & part of the wing azure succeeded
downward by a greenish blewe then on the flying feathers bright blewe
the lower parts of the wing outwardly of a browne [the _crossed out_]
inwardly of a merry blewe the belly a light faynt blewe the back toward
the tayle of a purple blewe the tayle eleuen fethers of a greenish
coulour the extremities of the outward fethers thereof white wth an
eye[K] of greene. Garrulus Argentoratensis [_the name added in a
different ink and pen_].
[K] Tinge, shade, particularly a slight tint.--"Imp. Dict."
NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES AND MARINE ANIMALS FOUND IN NORFOLK.
[MS. SLOAN. 1882. FOL. 145-146. ALTERED TO 21 AND 22, AND 1830 FOL.
23-30 AND 32-38.]
[The introductory remarks, paragraphs one to three, will be
found in the volume of the Sloane MSS. numbered 1882 (labelled
"Notes on Generation"), on pages 145 and 146, which are altered
to 21 and 22. They were placed in their present position by
Wilkin, but although appropriate, there is nothing to show that
they belong to the set of notes here reproduced, and they may
form memoranda for the beginning of some essay never completed.
The contents of the volume in question are of a very
miscellaneous character, and consist of fragmentary notes, which
appear to be memoranda jotted down at random.]
[_Fol. 21/145._] It may well seeme no easie matter to giue any
considerable account of fishes and animals of the sea wherein tis sayd
that there are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts
because they liue in an element wherein they are not so easely
discouerable notwithstanding probable it is that after this long
nauigation search of the ocean bayes creeks Estuaries and riuers that
there is scarce any fish butt hath been seen by some man for the large &
breathing sort thereof do sometimes discouer themselues aboue water and
the other are in such numbers that some at one time or other they are
discouered and taken euen the most barbarous nations being much addicted
to fishing and in America and the new discouered world the people were
well acquantd with fishes of sea and riuers, and the fishes thereof haue
been since described by industrious writers.
Pliny seemes to short in the estimate of their number in the ocean, who
recons up butt one hundred & seventie six species. butt the seas being
now farther known & searched [_21/145 verso_] Bellonius much enlargeth.
and in his booke of Birds thus deliuereth himself allthough I think it
impossible to reduce the same vnto a certain number yet I may freelie
say that tis beyond the power of man to find out more than fiue hundred
sorts [kinds _written above_] of fishes three hundred sorts of birds
more than three hundred sorts of fourfoted animalls and fortie
diversities of serpents.[50]
[50] This estimate of the number of species of birds and fishes
existing is amusing in the light of the present knowledge of the
subject. Of course any such estimate can only be approximate, and
open to constant emendation; but according to a statement in the
"Zoological Record" of 1896, it was believed that there were
something like 386,000 described species: 2,500 of which are
mammals, 12,500 birds, 4,400 reptilia and batrachia, 12,000 fishes,
50,000 mollusca, 20,000 crustacea, and 250,000 insecta; the smaller
divisions I have omitted. And whereas only about 10,000 species of
plants were known to Linnæus, Professor Vines in his address to the
Botanical section at the Bradford meeting of the British
Association, 1900, states that the approximate number of recognised
plants at present existing is 175,596; but this is far short of the
total of existing species. Professor Saccardo states that there are
250,000 fungi alone, and that the number of existing species in
other groups would bring the total up to over 400,000.
[SLOANE MSS. 1830, FOL. 23-38.]
[_Fol. 23._] Of fishes sometimes the larger sort are taken or come
ashoar. A spermaceti whale[51] of 62 foote long neere Welles. another of
the same kind 20 yeares before at Hunstanton. & not farre of 8 or nine
came ashoare & 2 had yong ones after they were forsaken by ye water.
[51] In the muniment room at Hunstanton Hall there exists a book of
MSS. notes relating to their estates, kept by Sir Hamon and Sir
Nicholas le Strange, between the years 1612 and 1723. From this
book Mr. Hamon le Strange has been good enough to send me an
extract containing the full particulars of the stranding and
disposal of a Sperm Whale 57 feet long, which came ashore on their
Manor of Holme, on the 6th December, 1626, the skull of which is
still in the courtyard at Hunstanton Hall.
Browne had not come to reside in Norwich at that time, and the
chapter on the Spermaceti Whale in his _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_, was
inspired by a subsequent occurrence of the same kind, for, as
appears from the above note, a larger individual, 62 feet long,
came ashore at Wells 20 years later, which he says led him to
further inquiry. This would indicate about the year 1646 as the
date of the latter occurrence, whereas in his third letter to
Merrett, written in 1668, he states that it happened "about 12
years ago," or in 1656. There is probably an error in one of these
dates.
Another example seems to have been found at Yarmouth about the year
1652, for we find Browne writing in that year for particulars of
its "cutting up." (See Appendix E.)
In the postscript to a letter also in the muniment room at
Hunstanton, dated June 11th, 1653, written to Sir Hamon le Strange,
who had been consulting him professionally, Browne says: "I pray
you at your leisure doe mee the honor to informe mee how long agoe
the Spermaceti Whale was cast upon your shoare & whether you had
any spermm with in any other part butt the head." It will be
noticed that in both the letters referred to he is anxious to
ascertain in what part of the body the "sperm" was situated,
doubtless for the purpose of confuting the "vulgar conceit" as to
the origin of the "sperm" referred to in the second paragraph of
his treatise in the _Pseudodoxia_. His investigations also probably
first led to a certain knowledge as to the nature of the food of
this animal.
These, however, although the first to be recorded in this county,
were not the first or only occurrences of the kind, for there is in
the parish church of Great Yarmouth the base of the skull of a
Sperm Whale, used as a chair, for the painting of which a charge of
five shillings appears in the churchwardens' accounts for the year
1606; many such events in European waters are to be found recorded.
But the most interesting circumstance with regard to these whales
is the statement that "two had yong ones after they were forsaken
by the water." This event renders it highly improbable that they
were Sperm Whales, for the stragglers of that species which have
been met with in our waters, and indeed in the northern seas
generally, have been almost invariably solitary males, or, in one
or two instances "schools" of young males. In the only instance in
which both sexes were found, the school was composed I believe of
immature individuals. (_Vide_ J. Anderson, "Nachrichten von Island,
Grönland, und der Strasse Davis," Frantfurt (1747), p. 248.)
Moreover, this view is confirmed by a letter which will be found in
Appendix B., where the following passage occurs:--"And not only
whales, but grampusses have been taken in this Estuarie ... and
about twenty years ago four were run ashore near Hunstanton, and
two had young ones after they had come to land." A so-called
Grampus which came ashore on the 21st July, 1700, was from a
description and drawing in the le Strange MS. above quoted, a male
_Hyperoodon rostratus_, apparently nearly adult.
The Grampus (_Orca gladiator_) (mentioned in the next paragraph) is
frequently met with in the British seas, and has repeatedly
occurred on the Norfolk coast. Some early occurrences are on
record, for instance in Mackerell's "History of Lynn," twelve are
said to have come ashore near that town in 1636, and another in
1680. Two very juvenile examples were taken off Yarmouth in
November 1894.
A grampus aboue 16 foot long taken at yarmouth [3 or _crossed out_] 4
yeares agoe.
The Tursio or porpose is co[=m]on the Dolphin[52] more rare though
sometimes taken wch many confound with the porpose. butt it hath a more
waued line along the skinne sharper toward ye tayle the head longer and
nose more extended wch maketh good the figure of Rondeletius. the flesh
more red & [fa _crossed out_] well cooked of very good taste to most
palates & exceedeth that of porpose.
[52] There can be no doubt that the Common Dolphin (_Delphinus
delphis_) is here referred to, and indeed this species might
reasonably be expected to be met with on our coast, as its range
extends at least as far to the north as the Scandinavian waters,
but so far as the writer is aware Browne's is the only record of
its having been met with in Norfolk. The White-beaked Dolphin (_D.
albirostris_) is not unfrequent, but it is clear that Browne does
not refer to that species.
In the "Vulgar Errors," Browne devotes a whole chapter (chapter ii.
of the fifth book) to a learned treatise on the "Picture of
Dolphins," and in one of the letters to his son Edward (Sloane
MSS., 1847), dated June 14th [1676?], he writes feelingly as an
anatomist, evidently fearing that a specimen then available might
be wasted, instead of being reserved for scientific purposes; for,
says he, "if the dolphin were to be showed for money in Norwich,
little would bee got; if they showed it in London they are like to
take out the viscera, and salt the fish, and then the dissection
will be unconsiderable." He then refers to the dolphin "opened when
the King was here," and describes its anatomical peculiarities,
adding that Dame Browne cooked the flesh "so as to make an
excellent savory dish of it," and that "collars" thereof (steaks
cut transversely) being sent to the King, who was then at
Newmarket, for his table, they "were well liked of." It is evident
therefore that he was present at the dissection of two of these
animals.
The vitulus marinus[53] seacalf or seale wch is often taken sleeping on
the shoare [4 _crossed out_] 5 [_written above_] yeares agoe one was
shot in the riuer of norwich about surlingham [wh _crossed out_] ferry
having continued in the riuer for diuers moneths before being an
Amphibious animal it may bee caryed about aliue & kept long if it can
bee brought to feed some haue been kept many moneths in ponds. the
pizzell the bladder the cartilago ensiformis the figure of the Throttle
the clusterd & racemous forme of the kidneys [_Fol. 24_] the flat &
compressed heart are remarkable in it. in stomaks of all that I have
opened I have found many [short _crossed out_] wormes.
[53] There is in the present day a considerable number of Common
Seals inhabiting the sand-banks of the Wash between the Norfolk and
Lincolnshire coasts, and they are frequently captured by the
fishermen; nor has the habit of straying into fresh-water deserted
them, for in recent years they have been taken in the River Ouse at
Bluntisham, forty miles from the sea. Three other species of Seal
have been taken on the Norfolk coast, viz., _Phoca hispida_, _P.
barbata_, and _Halichoerus gryphus_.
I haue also obserued a scolopendra cetacea[54] of about ten foot long
answering to the figure in Rondeletius wch the mariners told me was
taken in these seas.
[54] A Scolopendra, ten feet long, is at first rather startling,
but on referring to Rondeletius's _Libri de piscibus Marinis_ (lib.
xvi. p. 488), I find that under the name "Scolopendra" he includes
at least three distinct forms--i., _S. terrestris_, a centipede;
ii., _S. marina_, certain species of Nereidiform polychaet worms;
iii., _Scolopendra cetacea_, regarded as a Cetacean and figured
with a Cetacean blow-hole. With regard to this remarkable figure my
friend, Dr. S. F. Harmer, has favoured me with the following
note:--"In the account given Rondeletius is evidently writing from
report; the figure is also no doubt borrowed, and may have been
'improved' when redrawn; it seems to me that it is based upon some
kind of Tunny, although he figures a Tunny earlier in the book
(lib. viii. p. 249). The idea of the lateral appendages might have
been derived from the dorsal and ventral finlets of a Tunny; but
the first four finlets on each side are imaginary structures, and
in a wrong position. I can offer no opinion with regard to the
nasal appendages." Jonston (_De piscibus_, p. 156, Tab. xliv.) also
gives a similar figure of _Scolopendra_ _Cetacea_, which appears to
be a further modification of Rondeletius's figure; here it has
teeth, shown like those of the Sperm Whale, and an extra dorsal-fin
is added; the number of lateral appendages is the same, and a
column of water proceeding from the blow-hole is falling gracefully
forward. It is worthy of notice that Rondeletius also figures the
Saw-fish [Pristis] with a blow-hole.
A pristes or serra [_written above_] saw fish[55] taken about Lynne
co[=m]only mistaken for a [sha _crossed out_] sword fish & answers the
figure in Rondeletius.
[55] In the "Transactions of the Linnean Society," ii., p. 273, is
an essay by Latham "On the various species of Sawfish," but he does
not mention any British locality. So far as I am aware Browne's is
the only record of the occurrence of this southern species in
British waters, with the exception of a note in Fleming's "British
Animals," p. 164, where it is stated on the authority of the late
Dr. Walker's MS. "Adversaria" for 1769, that _Pristis antiquorum_
is "found sometimes in Loch Long," but Fleming adds that he has met
with no other proof of its ever having visited the British shores.
Browne mentions in his eighth letter to Merrett that he sends him a
"figure in little" of a _Pristis_ which he received of a Yarmouth
seaman, and is so precise in his statement that his fish was
_Pristis serra_ (the _Pristis antiquorum_ of Cuvier), that his
record cannot be disregarded. He specially guards against its being
mistaken for the Sword-fish (_Xiphias gladius_), which has been
taken on several occasions in our waters, and of which he gives
some interesting particulars.
A sword fish or Xiphias or Gladius intangled in the Herring netts at
yarmouth agreable unto the Icon in Johnstonus with a smooth sword not
vnlike the Gladius of Rondeletius about a yard & half long, no teeth [n
_crossed out_] eyes very remarkable enclosed in an hard cartilaginous
couercle about ye bignesse of a good apple. ye vitreous humor plentifull
the crystalline larger then a nutmegge [cleare _crossed out_] remaining
cleare sweet & vntainted when the rest of the eye was vnder a deepe
corruption wch wee kept clear & limpid many moneths vntill an hard frost
split it & manifested the foliations thereof.
It is not vnusuall to take seuerall sorts of canis or doggefishes[56]
great and small wch pursue the shoale of herrings and other fish butt
this yeare 1662 one was taken intangled in the Herring netts about 9
foot in length, answering the last figure of Johnstonus lib 7 vnder the
name of _canis carcherias alter_ & was by the teeth & 5 gills one kind
of shark particularly [_Fol. 25_] remarkable in the vastnesse of the
optick nerves & 3 conicall hard pillars wch supported the extraordinarie
elevated nose wch wee haue reserued with the scull the seamen calld this
kind a scrape.
[56] Various species of Dog-fish are frequent off the Norfolk coast
as elsewhere. The name "Sweet William" is applied to the larger
fish of this kind, especially to the Tope; this appears also to
have been the case in Pennant's time, for alluding to this
vernacular name he supposes it was applied in ironical allusion to
the offensive smell of their flesh and skin. They are objects of
great aversion among the fishermen, owing to the disturbance they
create among the shoals of fish, and the damage they do to both
nets and the enclosed fish. Scarcely a season passes but one or
more specimens of Browne's _Canis carcharias_, or, as modern
Ichthyologists call it, _Lamna cornubica_, the Porbeagle, being
entangled in the drift nets and landed with the herrings. One lies
on the fish-wharf at Lowestoft as I write this note on the 19th of
October, 1900, measuring 7 feet 10 inches in length. Jonston's
figure referred to by Browne is evidently intended for this
species, but he makes a slight error in the reference to the
_Historia Naturalis (De Piscibus et Cetis)_; it occurs in book v.,
and the figure is fig. 6 on Tab. vi., and it is marked _Canis
carcharias alius_ (not alter).
Sturio or Sturgeon[57] so co[=m]on on the other side of the sea about
the mouth of the elbe come seldome into our creekes though some haue
been taken at yarmouth & more in the great [owse _crossed out_] Owse by
Lynne butt their heads not so sharpe as represented in the Icons of
Rondeletius & Johnstonus.
[57] So great is the variation in the snout of the Sturgeon, that
Dr. Parnell in his excellent essay on "The Fishes of the District
of the Forth," describes the Sharp-nosed Sturgeon as a distinct
species under the name of _Acipenser sturio_, and the broad-nosed
form he calls _A. latirostris_. His views, however, have not been
generally accepted, and only one British species is recognised. The
Sharp-nosed variety has been taken here, but the normal form is
much more frequent.
Sometimes wee meet with a mola or moonefish[58] so called from some
resemblance it hath [from _crossed out_] of a crescent in the extreme
part of the body from one finne unto another one being taken neere the
shoare at yarmouth before breake of day seemed to shiuer & grunt like an
hogge as Authors deliuer of it the flesh being hard & neruous it is not
like to afford a good dish butt from the Liuer wch is [white _crossed
out_] large white & tender somewhat [wee _crossed out_] may bee expected
[for _crossed out_] the gills of these fishes wee found thick beset with
a kind of sealowse. [Added subsequently] in the yeare 1667 a mola was
taken at monsley wch weighed 2 [p _crossed out_] hundred pound.
[58] This fish (_Orthagoriscus mola_), which we know as the
Sun-fish, has been repeatedly taken here. For an account of its
parasites see Cobbold on the "Sun-fish as a host," "Intellectual
Observer," ii., p. 82; also Day, "Brit. Fishes," ii., p. 275.
According to Dr. Spencer Cobbold the Sun-fish is infested by nine
species of Helminths, three of which are mostly found attached to
the gills, while a fourth adheres to the surface of the body.
The Rana piscatrix or frogge fish[59] is sometimes found in a very large
magnitude & wee haue taken the [paynes _crossed out_] care [_written
above_] to haue them clend & stuffed. wherein wee obserued all the
appendices whereby the[y] cach fishes butt much larger then are
discribed in the Icons of Johnstonus tab xi fig 8.
[59] Both this species and the Wolf-fish are well known upon our
coast.
[_Fol. 26_] The sea [wollf _crossed out_] wolf or Lupus nostras of
Schoneueldus remarkable for its spotted skinne & notable teeth incisors
Dogteeth & grinders the dogteeth [in the _crossed out_] both in the
jawes & palate scarce answerable by any fish of that bulk for [strength
_crossed out_] the like disposure strength & soliditie.
Mustela marina[60] called by some a wesell ling wch salted & dryed
becomes a good Lenten dish.
[60] Some member of the family _Gadidæ_ is here referred to,
probably the five-bearded Rockling, _Motella mustela_, or Brown
Whistle-fish of Pennant, which is occasionally taken by our
fishermen, but is by no means common.
A Lump or Lumpus Anglorum so named by Aldrouandus by some esteemed a
festiuall dish though it affordeth butt a glutinous jellie & the skinne
is beset with stony knobs after no certaine order ours most answereth
the first figure in the xiii table of Johnstonus butt seemes more round
& arcuated then that figure makes it.
Before the herrings there co[=m]only cometh a fish about a foot long by
the fish man called an horse[61] resembling in all poynts the Trachurus
of Rondeletius of a mixed shape between a mackerell & an herring.
obseruable from [an oblique bo _crossed out_] its greene eyes rarely
skye colored back after it is kept a day & an oblique bony line running
on ye outside from the gills vnto ye tayle. a drye & hard dish butt
makes an handsome picture.
[61] This is the Horse Mackerel, or Scad, _Caranx trachurus_; a
handsome fish and common enough, especially off Sheringham, but not
much esteemed for the table.
The Rubelliones or Rochets[62] butt thinly met with on this coast. the
gornart cuculus or Lyræ species more often wch they seldome eat butt
bending the back & sprdding the finnes into a liuely posture do hang
them up in their howses.
[62] Fish of the Gurnard kind are here referred to. The Rochet of
Pennant is the Red Gurnard, _Trigla cuculus_; he calls _T. lyra_
the Piper. Large numbers of various species of Gurnard are brought
in by our trawlers and sell readily, especially the Sapphirine
Gurnard, or Tub-fish (_T. hirundo_), which is known as the "Lachet"
on our coast; it reaches a large size, and seems to be much in
demand for the table. In spring the colours are very brilliant, and
they are frequently seen on the fish stalls with their pectoral
fins extended as Browne describes.
[_Fol. 27._] Beside the co[=m]on mullus[63] or mullet there is another
not vnfrequent wch some call a cunny fish butt rather a red muellett of
a flosculous redde & somewhat rough on the scales answering the
discription of [Rond _crossed out_] Icon of Rondeletius vnder the name
of mullus ruber asper [no _crossed out_] butt not the tast of the
vsually knowne mullet as [being butt _crossed out_] affording butt a
drye & leane bitt.
[63] The Common Mullet I take to be the Grey Mullet (_Mugil
capito_), which is at times plentiful on our coast, coming into
Breydon and the mouths of the rivers, but the Red Mullet (_Mullus
barbatus_) is far less frequently met with. In his third letter to
Merrett, Browne says, "There is of them _maior_ and _minor_," the
latter probably being the variety known as the Surmullet, by far
the most frequently met with here.
Seuerall sorts of fishes[64] there are wch [bear _crossed out_] do
[_written above_] or may beare the names of seawoodcocks as the Acus
maior scolopax & saurus. the saurus wee sometimes meet with yonge.
Rondeletius confesseth it a very rare fish somewhat resembling the Acus
or needlefish before & a makerell behind. wee have kept one dryed many
yeares agoe.
[64] The Saurus of Rondeletius appears to be the Skipper or
Saury-pike (_Scombresox saurus_) of modern authors. _Acus major_ is
the Gar-fish or Greenback (_Belone vulgaris_); this is the _Acus
primus_ of Rondeletius, Dr. Harmer has been good enough to send me
the following note on Rondeletius's figures:--"_De Acus secunda
specie_" (lib. viii. p. 229). "Two species are figured; the upper
figure appears to represent _Siphonostoma typhle_, and the lower
one _S. acus_. Günther ('Brit. Mus. Cat.,' viii. p. 157) gives a
reference to Rondeletius in his synonyms of _S. acer_ without
indicating that the latter figures two species. Under _S. typhle_
(p. 154) he gives the synonym _Syngnathus rondeletii_, De la Roche.
A reference to Delaroche ('Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris,' xiii, 1809
p. 324, Pl. xxi. fig. 5) shows that _S. rondeletii_ is identified
with the first figure on p. 229 of Rondeletius; and it may thus be
concluded that Günther agrees with this conclusion. It seems
therefore probable that Browne's Acus of Aristotle refers to _S.
typhle_."
The Acus maior calld by some a garfish & greenback answering ye figure
of Rondeletius under the name of Acus prima species remarkable for its
quadrangular figure and verdigreece green back bone.
[L] A lesser sort of Acus [wee _crossed out_] maior or primæ specæei wee
meet with [answering the saurus of Rondeletius _crossed out_] much
shorter then the co[=m]on garfish & in taking out the spine wee found it
not green as in the greater & much answering the saurus of Rondeletius.
[L] This and the next paragraph on the back of Fol. 26 are in
different ink and smaller writing though in the same hand, and
appear to have been added subsequently. The first paragraph is
omitted by Wilkin.
A scolopax[65] or sea woodcock of Rondeletius was giuen mee by a seaman
of these seas. about 3 inches long & seemes to bee one kind of Acus or
needlefish answering the discription of Rondeletius.
[65] The Scolopax, or Sea Woodcock, is clearly _Centriscus
scolopax_, a very rare fish in the British seas, and it would have
been well had Browne given a more precise account of the origin of
his specimen.
The Acus of Aristotle [_see Note 64_] lesser thinner corticated &
sexangular by diuers calld an addercock & somewhat resembling a snake
ours more plainly finned then Rondeletius discribeth it.
A little corticated fish[66] about [4 inches _crossed out_] 3 or 4
inches long [_several words smeared out_] ours answering that wch is
named piscis octangularis by wormius, cataphractus by Schoneueldeus.
octagonius versus caput, versus caudam hexagonius.
[66] Doubtless the Armed Bull-head, or Pogge, _Agonus
cataphractus_. A MS. note in Berkenhout says it was called at
Lowestoft a Beetle-head (1769).
[_Fol. 28._] The faber marinus[67] sometimes found very large answering
ye figure of Rondeletius. which though hee mentioneth as a rare fish &
to be found in the Atlantick & Gaditane ocean yet wee often meet with it
in these seas co[=m]only calld a peterfish hauing [a _crossed out_] one
[_written above_] black spot on ether side the body conceued the
perpetuall signature from the impression of St Peters fingers or to
resemble the 2 peeces of money wch St Peter tooke out of this fish
remarkable also from its disproportionable mouth & many hard prickles
about other parts.
[67] _Zeus faber_, the Dory. Many, usually small ones, are brought
in by our fishermen.
A kind of scorpius marinus[68] a rough prickly & monstrous headed fish 6
8 or 12 inches long answerable vnto the figure of Schoneueldeus.
[68] _Cottus scorpius_, Father Lasher, commonly taken by the
shrimpers.
A sting fish[69] wiuer or kind of ophidion or Araneus slender, narrowe
headed about 4 inches long wth a sharpe small prickly finne along the
back which often venemously pricketh the hands of fishermen.
[69] Probably from its size the Lesser Weever, _Trachinus vipera_,
as also the _Draco minor_ of Jonstoni. A common fish in our waters.
Large numbers of the Greater Weever, _T. draco_, are brought in by
the trawlers.
Aphia cobites marina[70] or sea Loche.
[70] One of the Gobies. Day, "Brit. Fishes," i., p. 169, supposes
the _Aphya cobites_ of Rondeletius (p. 20) to be the White Goby,
_A. pellucida_; Pennant has _A. cobites_ as a synonym for the
Spotted Goby (_G. minutus_) and the Sea Gudgeons, Black Gobies (_G.
niger_), but at that time there was no very nice distinction of the
members of this genus. The Sea Miller's Thumb is probably the
Shanny (_Blennius pholis_). _Alosa_, is the Allis Shad (_Culpea
alosa_, L.), not uncommon (_see Note 74_).
Blennus a sea millars thumb.
Funduli marini sea gogions.
Alosæ or chads to bee met with about Lynne.
Spinachus or smelt[71] in greatest plentie about Lynne butt [co[=m]on on
yarmouth coast _crossed out_] where they haue also a small fish calld a
primme answering in [all _crossed out_] tast & shape a smelt & perhaps
are butt the yonger sort thereof.
[71] The Smelt, _Osmerus eperlanus_, is abundant in the shallow
waters and estuaries on the Norfolk coast in spring, ascending the
fresh-water rivers to spawn. The small fish called a Primme by
Browne, may be the Atherine (_Atherina presbyter_), which is also
found in our waters, where it is often mistaken for the Smelt, but
I have not heard it called by the former name.
[_Fol 29._] Aselli or cods of seuerall sorts. Asellus albus or whitings
in great plentie. Asellus niger carbonarius or [col _crossed out_] coale
fish. Asellus minor Schoneueldei callarias pliny or Haydocks with many
more also a weed fish somewhat like an haydock butt larger & dryer meat.
A Basse also much resembling a flatter kind of Cod.[72]
[72] The first three fishes named in this paragraph need no
comment; the Weed-fish is doubtless a local name, but for what
species I cannot discover. The Bass, _Labrax lupus_ (Cuv.), is, as
might be expected from the nature of our coast, by no means common
here.
Scombri are makerells[73] in greate plentie a dish much desired butt if
as Rondeletius affirmeth they feed upon sea starres & squalders (_see
Note 90_) there may bee some doubt whether their flesh bee without some
ill qualitie sometimes they are of a very large size & one was taken
this yeare 1668 wch was by measure an ell long and of ye length of a
good salmon, at Lestoffe.
[73] The latter part of this paragraph, beginning, "Sometimes they
are of a very large size," is written on the left-hand side of the
opening, and is evidently a subsequent addition. One would be
inclined to think from the great size of the fish here recorded (3
ft. 9 in.), that it may have been a species of Tunny, or even a
Bonito, both of which have been taken on the Norfolk coast.
Seventeen inches is a large mackerel.
Herrings departed sprats or sardæ not long after succeed in great
plentie wch are taken with smaller nets [& dryed _crossed out_] & smoakd
& dryed like herrings become a [daint _crossed out_] sapid bitt &
vendible abroad.
Among these are found Bleakes or bliccæ[74] a thinne herring like fishe
wch some will also think to bee young herrings. And though the sea
aboundeth not with pilchards, yet they are co[=m]only taken among
herrings. butt few esteeme thereof or eat them.
[74] It is quite evident that the fish referred to here, and again
in the sixth letter to Merrett, is not the true Bleak (_Alburnus
lucideus_) of our freshwaters. It seems that the young of some
species of Clupeoid was thus known, for I find it stated in a MS.
note in a copy of Berkenhout's "Outlines of the Natural History of
Great Britain," (1769), in the possession of Mr. T. E. Gunn, that
the Bleak and the Sprat are often caught together in the sea at
Aldeburgh (Suffolk) in November, and the writer of the note adds,
"the Bleak is larger than the Sprat, its eyes are larger, and the
upper part of its belly serrated." I think from this description
and from Browne's remarks, that the young of a species of Shad must
have been mistaken for the Bleak, which although found low down in
our rivers almost to where the salt tide mingles with the fresh,
does not I believe enter the salt water.
Congers are not so co[=m]on on these coasts as on many seas about
England, butt are often found upon the north coast of Norfolk, & in
frostie wether left in pulks & plashes upon the ebbe of the sea.
[_Fol. 30._] The sand eels Anglorum of Aldrouandus, or Tobianus of
Schoneueldeus co[=m]only called smoulds taken out of the sea sands with
forks & rakes about Blakeney and Burnham a small round slender fish
about 3 or 4 inches long as bigge as a small Tobacco pipe a very dayntie
dish.
Pungitius marinus[75] or sea bansticle hauing a prickle one each side
the smallest fish of the sea about an inch long sometimes drawne ashoare
with netts together with weeds & pargaments[M] of the sea.
[75] The smallest of the genus _Gasterosteus_, or Stanstickles, is
_G. pungitius_, the ten-spined Stickleback, but this fish is two
inches long when full grown. All the species seem to be more or
less indifferent to the salinity of the water. The fifteen-spined
Stickleback, _G. spinachia_, is also sometimes taken by the
shrimpers, and is the most truly marine species, but is by no means
"the smallest fish of the sea."
[M] This word which Wilkin renders "fragments," is doubtless from
the Latin _pergamentum_, and it seems likely that Browne had in
view certain sea-weeds, possibly _Laminaria_ or _Ulva_ which,
especially when dry, present somewhat the appearance and texture of
parchment.
Many sorts of flat fishes[76] The pastinaca oxyrinchus with a long &
strong aculeus in the tayle conceuud of speciall venome & virtues.
[76] _Pastinaca oxyrinchus_ appears to be the Sting Ray (_Trygon
pastinaca_); _Raia clavata_, the Thornback; _R. oculata_, the
Spotted Ray (_R. maculata_); _R. aspera_; the Shagreen Ray? (_R.
fullonica_).
Severall sorts of Raia's skates & Thornebacks the Raia clauata
oxyrinchus, raia oculata, aspera, spinosa fullonica.
The great Rhombus or Turbot aculeatus & leuis.
The passer or place.
Butts of various kinds.
The passer squamosus Bret Bretcock[77] & skulls comparable in taste and
delicacy vnto the soale.
[77] The Brill, _Rhombus lævis_ (Lin.), _Passer asper squamosus___,
Rondl., formerly known as the Brett, Bretcock, Skull, or Pearl.
The Buglossus solea or soale[78] plana & oculata as also the Lingula or
small soale all in very great plentie.
[78] _Solea vulgaris_, the Common Sole. The "_Lingula_, or small
Sole," is probably the _Solea variegata_, Flem., the _S. parva sive
Lingula_ of Rond. Jonston figures "_Solea lingulata_," Tab. xx.,
fig. 12, but I am uncertain what species is intended. It is
possible that Browne may have Latinised the trade name by which
small Soles are known in the market as "slips" and "tongues." What
other species he may have wished to indicate as "plana" and
"oculata" it is difficult to determine.
Sometimes a fish aboue half a yard long like a butt[79] or soale called
asprage wch I haue known taken about Cromer.
[79] The "asprage" (or it may be "a sprage") may possibly be the
Dab, _Pleuranectes limanda_, which Rondeletius calls _Passer
asper_. I do not find that species mentioned otherwise, and a great
many are taken by the Cromer and Sheringham fishermen.
[_Fol. 31._] [See _Roller ante_ p. 30.]
[_Fol. 32._] Sepia or cuttle fish[80] [smear] & great plentie of the
bone or shellie substance which sustaineth the whole bulk of that soft
fishe found co[=m]only on the shoare.
[80] Of the various species of the Cephalopoda, _Sepia
officinalis_, is more often represented by its calcareous dorsal
plate than by the entire animal, for large numbers of these
"cuttle-bones" are sometimes strewed along the shore for miles. The
Squid, _Loligo vulgaris_, is often met with, sometimes of
considerable size. The horny "pen" resembles a short leaf-shaped
Roman sword, and Browne's term, "Gladiolus," is quite as
appropriate as that of "Calamus." His _Polypus_ is probably
_Octopus vulgaris_, but it is rarely met with on the Norfolk coast.
The Loligo sleue or calamar found often upon the shoare from head to
tayle [such _crossed out_] sometimes aboue an ell long, remarkable for
its parretlike bill, the gladiolus or calamus along the back & the
notable crystallyne of the eye wch equalleth if not exceedeth the lustre
of orientall pearle.
A polypus another kind of the mollia[N] sometimes wee haue met with.
[N] By _mollia_ is meant all soft-bodied shell-less animals.
Lobsters in great number about sheringham and cromer from whence all the
country is supplyed.
Astacus marinus pediculi [marini _written above_] facie[81] found also
in that place. with the aduantage of ye long foreclawes about 4 inches
long.
[81] Probably _Nephrops norvegicus_, the Norway Lobster, called at
Lowestoft a Crayfish or Prawn. They are sometimes brought in in
large numbers by the steam trawlers, but the precise locality in
which they are captured I am unable to say; the fishermen say the
"North Sea," which is rather a vague address, but others say
between the Texel and Heligoland.
Crabs large & well tasted found also in the same coast.
Another kind of crab[82] taken for cancer fluuiatilis litle slender & of
a very quick motion found in the Riuer running through yarmouth. [_added
subsequently_] & in bliburgh riuer.
[82] _Carsinus mænas_, the Shore-crab, a very common species on the
Norfolk coast is here intended.
[_Fol. 33._] Oysters exceeding large about Burnham and [Huns _crossed
out_] Hunstanton like those of poole St Mallowes or ciuita [vech
_crossed out_] vechia whereof [some _crossed out_] many are eaten rawe
the shells being broakin with [cle _crossed out_] cleuers the greater
part pickled & sent weekly to London & other parts.
Mituli or muscles in great quantitie as also chams or cochles about
stiskay [_sic_] & ye northwest coast.
Pectines pectunculi varij or scallops of the lesser sort.
Turbines or smaller wilks, leues, striati. as also Trochi, Trochili, or
scaloppes finely variegated & pearly. [as also _crossed out_.] Lewise
[_sic_] purpuræ minores, nerites, cochleæ, Tellinæ.
Lepades, patellæ Limpets, of an vniualue shell wherein an animal like a
snayle cleauing fast unto the rocks.
Solenes cappe lunge venetorum co[=m]only a razor fish the shell thereof
dentalia
[The MS. breaks off here, and the next paragraph appears to be an
interpolation.]
Dentalia by some called pinpaches because pinmeat thereof is taken out
with a pinne or needle.[83]
[83] Mussels and Cockles are very abundant all along the shallow
shores of North-west Norfolk, as well as Clams, _Mya arenaria_.
"Scallops of the lesser sort" are probably _Pecten opercularius_
and _P. varius_. The Whelk, _Buccinum undatum_, is also very
numerous, and forms the staple of a considerable industry at
Sheringham; the lesser, or Dog-Whelk, _Nassa reticulata_, as well
as _Purpura lapillus_ and several sorts of Trochus, are commonly
met with. The genus Nerita was a very comprehensive one in Browne's
time, and included many species of Littorina, of which the
well-known Periwinkle, _L. littorea_, is the most numerous here. No
true Nerita is now recognised as British, although in the warmer
seas the genus is a very numerous one. The most common Tellina here
is _T. tenuis_, _Lepades patellæ_ are of course the common Limpet
(_Patella vulgata_), and of the Solen, or Razor Shell, which Gwyn
Jeffreys says in the time of Aldrovandus was called by the
Venetians "cappa longa," we have two species found on the sandy
portions of the coast. Here some confusion exists in the MS., after
the words, "the shell thereof dentalia," the note ends abruptly,
and is followed by an interpolation which seems quite irrelevant,
as Dentalia have surely never been called "Pin-patches" (the
vernacular name for _Littorina littorea_), nor is it probable that,
like that common univalve, they were ever taken out of their shells
with a pin or needle. _Dentalia_ are mentioned on two other
occasions as of doubtful occurrence and _Dentalium entalis_ has
slight claim to be a native of Norfolk; the only recorded specimen
I know of was picked up in 1890 by Mr. Mayfield, from the drift on
the beach between Wells and Holkham.
Cancellus Turbinum et neritis[84] Barnard the Hermite of Rondeletius a
kind of crab or astacus liuing in a forsaken wilk or nerites.
[84] Hermit Crabs are here referred to, the larger, _Pagurus
bernhardus_, found very frequently inhabiting the shells of the
Whelk, and a smaller species which takes up its abode in those of a
_Trochus_.
echinus echinometrites[85] sea hedghogge whose neat shells are co[=m]on
on the shoare the fish aliue often taken [with _crossed out_] by the
dragges among the oysters.
[85] Dead _Echini_ are very common on the sea-shore, and many
living ones are dredged by the shrimpers. _Echinus sphæra_ is the
most common on the Norfolk coast; _E. miliaris_, a small species,
is also very abundant about Cromer.
[This and the next paragraph on fol. 33 _verso_.]
Balani[86] a smaller sort of vniualue growing co[=m]only in clusters.
the smaller kinds thereof to bee found oftimes upon oysters wilks &
lobsters.
[86] The species of Cirripeds referred to are probably the common
Acorn Barnacle (_Balanus porcatus_) and the Goose Barnacle (_Lepas
anatifera_), the latter occasionally found on ships' bottoms and
drift-wood, probably carried by favourable currents from warmer
seas than our own.
Concha anatifera or Ansifera or Barnicleshell whereof about 4 yeares
past were found upon the shoare no small number by yarmouth hanging by
slender strings of a kind of Alga vnto seuerall splinters or [clefts
_crossed out_] cleauings of firre boards vnto wch they were seuerally
fastned & hanged like ropes of onyons: their shell flat & of a peculiar
forme differing from other shelles, this being of four diuisions.
containing a small imperfect animal at the lower part diuided into many
shootes or streames wch prepossed [imag _crossed out_] spectators fancy
to bee the rudiment of the tayle of some goose or duck to bee [expute
_crossed out_] produced from it. some whereof in ye shell & some taken
out & spred upon paper wee shall [still?] keepe by us.
[Fol. 34.] Stellæ marinæ[87] or sea starres in great plentie especially
about yarmouth. whether they bee bred out of the [vrticas _crossed out_]
vrticæ squalders or sea gellies as many report wee cannot confirme butt
the squalderes in the middle seeme to haue some lines or first draughts
not unlike. our starres exceed not 5 poynts though I haue heard that
some with more haue been found about Hunstanton and Burnham. where are
also found stellæ marinæ testacæ or handsome crusted & brittle sea
[stars _crossed out_] starres much lesse.
[87] The Five-finger (_Asterias rubens_, L.) is a very numerous
species on our coast and very destructive. Brittle Stars
(_Ophiocoma sp?_) are as Browne states most frequent about
Hunstanton, Burnham, and Cromer. _Solaster papposa_ is also found
in the same localities.
The pediculus[88] and culex marin us the sea lowse & flie are [are
_crossed out_] also no strangeres.
[88] The Pediculus, or Sea Louse, is probably _Talitrus locusta_,
the Sand-hopper; what may be intended by _Culex marinus_ it is
difficult to say. A species of gnat is at times very numerous on
the wet sand just above the water-line. _See also_ Notes 110 and
115, on a kindred subject.
Physsalus Rondeletij[89] or eruca marina physsaloides according to the
icon of Rondeletius of very orient green & purple bristles.
[89] The Sea Mouse, _Aphrodite aculeata_. This is referred to again
in the Letters to Merrett.
Urtica marina[90] of diuers kinds some whereof called squalderes. of a
burning and stinging qualitie if rubbed in the hand. the water thereof
may afford a good cosmetick.
[90] Mr. E. T. Browne, of the Zoological Laboratory of University
College, London, has kindly furnished me with the following notes
on this subject: "Jonston (1657) gives figures of Anemones and
large _Medusae_ under the name of _Urtica_. On Tab. xviii. he
figures Anemones and other beasts, but not _medusae_. The _medusae_
are on the next Tab. (xix.). _Urtica marina_ includes both Anemones
and certain Scyphomedusae (not _Pulmo_). Under 'some ... called
Squalders of a burning and stinging quality,' I think Browne must
refer to our common stinging Scyphomedusae belonging to the genus
_Chrysaora_ or _Cyanaea_, of which there are three species.
"The vague description of what he calls 'sea buttons' [see below,
also second letter to Merrett] would suit either a Medusa or a
Ctenophore. The additional note, 'two small holes in the ends,'
rather upsets matters, but I think he must refer to some sort of
jelly-fish, probably damaged, which is usually the case when cast
up on the shore. If the buttons worn in those days were like
filbert-nuts or eggs, I am inclined to think that the reference
must be to a Ctenophore, genus _Pleurobrachia_, but if flat, then
to one of the _Hydromedusae_. It would be safe to say, 'probably a
kind of jelly-fish,' which is about as vague as the reference." See
also Dr. Reuben Robinson's description of "Squalders" in a letter
to Browne (Wilkin i., pp. 422-424). It seems probable that the
gelatinous masses referred to in the early part of this letter,
which Dr. Robinson says were ascribed by Dr. Charleton to "the
nocturnall pollution of some plethorick or wanton starr: or rather
excrement blowne from the nosthrills of a rheumatick planett," were
the remains of the undeveloped spawn of frogs, the bodies of which
had been eaten by rats, crows, or herons, and which had become
swollen by exposure to moisture.
[The next paragraph on folio 33 _verso_ is evidently added
subsequently.]
Another elegant sort that is often found cast up by shoare in great
numbers about ye bignesse of a button cleere & welted & may bee called
fibula marina crystallina.
hirudines marini or sea Leaches.[91]
[91] It is difficult to determine the species of marine Annelids
referred to by Browne; the Sea Leech is probably _Pontobdella
lævis_. The "large wormes" digged for bait, mentioned more than
once, are Lug-worms, _Arenicola piscatorum_; the _Vermes in tubulis
testacei_ may be tube-worms of the genus Terrebella, or a species
of Serpula. Tethya or "Sea dugge" (not "Sea dogs," as Wilkin has
it) might very well apply to _Ascidia_ or one of the allied genera.
Simple Ascidians, generally known as Sea-squirts, are common
littoral forms; the animals figured by Rondeletius under the
heading "De Tethyis" (p. 127) are simple Ascidians. The _vesicaria
marina_, or "fanago," might well refer to the egg capsules of the
common Whelk (_Buccinum undatum_), which are very commonly found in
masses on the shore. In his sixth letter to Merrett, Browne
mentions two kinds of "fanago," the first which I take to be the
egg capsules of the Whelk, resembling the "husk of peas;" the
smaller that of "barley when the flower [awn?] is mouldered away,"
may possibly be the egg capsules of _Purpura lapillus_, or of some
species of Natica, which bear a fanciful resemblance to grains of
barley. See also Merrett's second letter in Appendix A., in which
he describes the Vesicaria found on oyster-shells as resembling
flowers of _Hyacinthus botryoides_, which is not a bad description
of the form of the egg capsules of _P. lapillus_.
vermes marini very large wormes digged a yarde deepe out of the sands
at the ebbe for bayt. tis known where they are to bee found by a litle
flat ouer them on ye surface of ye sand. as also vermes in tubulis
testacei. Also Tethya or sea dugges some whereof resemble fritters [and
_crossed out_] the vesicaria marina also & [_see Note 91_] fanago
sometimes very large conceaued to proceed from some testaceous animals.
& particularly [_Fol. 35_] from the purpura butt [in _crossed out_] ours
more probably from other testaceous wee hauing not met with any large
purpura upon this coast.
[A blank space.]
Many riuer fishes also and animals. Salmon[92] no co[=m]on fish in our
riuers though many are taken in the owse. in the Bure or north riuer, in
ye waueney or south riuer, in ye [yare or _crossed out_] norwich riuer
butt seldome and in the winter butt 4 yeares ago 15 were taken at
Trowes mill [ab _crossed out_] in Xtmas. whose mouths were stuck with
small wormes or horsleaches no bigger than fine threads some of these I
kept in water 3 moneths if a few drops of blood were putt to the water
they would in a litle time looke red. they sensibly grewe bigger then I
first found them and were killed by an hard froast freezing the water.
most of our Salmons haue a recurued peece of flesh in ye end of the
lower iawe wch when they shutt there mouths deepely enters the upper. as
Scaliger hath noted in some.
[92] The Salmon (_Salmo salar_) is at the present day very rarely
found in our rivers, and those met with are, as a rule, male Kelts
which have strayed into unsuspected situations after floods; a
singular exception occurred on the 20th May, 1897, when one
weighing 6 lbs. was taken on a fly in the river above Stoke Holy
Cross Mill; this fish is preserved in the Norwich Museum. Another
curious capture of which I heard (but did not see the fish)
occurred on the 1st August, 1898, when a salmon, also of 6 lbs.
weight, jumped into a small boat towed behind a yacht which was
sailing across Breydon Water. That the salmon was at one time a
recognised visitor to our rivers is evident from the following
extract from the Norwich Court of Mayoralty Book under date 2 Novr.
1667: "It is ordered that the bell man give notice that if any
person shall take any Salmons from the Nativity of our Lady unto
St. Martin's day, or destroy any young Salmons by netts or other
ingens from the midst of April until the Nativity of St. John
Baptist shall be punished according to the law." The Salmon is the
host of several parasites both internal and external. Fresh run
Salmon are generally infested with a "Sea-louse," which quickly
perishes in freshwater; not so, however, with the troublesome
worm-like creature, the subject of Browne's experiments; it is
known as _Lernæa salmonis_, and is only found on the gill-covers of
spent Kelts; it is not got rid of till the fish returns to the salt
water. Browne may be excused being rather sceptical as to the
identity of the clean run Salmon and the spent Kelt, for no greater
contrast can be imagined than that which exists between the
two--the male in the "redding" season develops the unsightly hooked
mandible, which so puzzled the worthy doctor, and both in colour
and form is as hideous an object as can be imagined. Bécard
Gallorum (not _Beccard gallorus_), _i.e._, the fish called "Bécard"
by the French (see second letter to Merrett), refers to the use of
a name still applied in France to a large Cock Salmon, and
"Anchorago" is the name under which the fish was described by
Scaliger, whose book I have not seen. Dr. Günther tells me that
Artedi, "Ichthyologia," Pt. v., p. 23, quotes this name as a
synonym of the Salmon.
The Riuers lakes & broads[93] abound in [the Lucius or _added above_]
pikes of very large size where also is found the Brama or [breme
_crossed out_] Breme large & well tasted the Tinca or Tench the Rubecula
Roach as also Rowds and Dare or Dace perca or pearch great & small.
whereof such [as] are are in Braden on this side yarmouth in the mixed
water [are gen _crossed out_] make a dish very dayntie & I think scarce
to bee bettered in England. butt the Blea[k] [_Fol. 36_] the chubbe the
barbell [I haue not obserued in these riuers _crossed out_] to bee found
in diues other Riuers in England I haue not obserued in these. As also
fewer mennowes then in many other riuers.
[93] The freshwater fishes named in the next three paragraphs are
so well known as to require few remarks. The Bream in our rivers
and broads are very numerous and reach a large size, but of their
esculent qualities I have had no personal experience; not so,
however, with the Perch, which quite deserve Browne's high
encomium. It is well known here that this fish shows no aversion of
a certain admixture of salt and fresh water, and Mr. Lubbock
("Fauna of Norfolk") says, "the point in Norfolk rivers where the
largest are taken with most certainty is where water begins to turn
brackish from the influence of the ocean;" in autumn the very
finest are taken by angling with a shrimp, a favourite bait in the
lower parts of the Yare and Waveney. In such localities a small
shrimp (_Hippolyte varians_, Leach) abounds, and it is to this
favourite food that Mr. Lubbock attributes the excellence of these
Perch. Roud is the local name of the Rudd (_Leuciscus
erythropthalmus_). The River Nar is still perhaps the best Trout
stream in the county, and the Crawfish is found in most of the
rivers but not abundantly.
The Trutta or trout the Gammarus or crawfish [no _crossed out_] butt
scarce in our riuers butt frequently taken in the Bure or north riuer &
in the seuerall branches therof. & very remarkable large crawfishes to
bee found in the riuer wch runnes by castleaker & nerford.
The Aspredo perca minor[94] and probably the cernua of Cardan co[=m]only
called a Ruffe in great plentie in norwich Riuers & euen in ye streame
of the citty. which though camden appropriates vnto this citty yet they
are also found in the riuers of oxforde [&] Cambridge.
[94] Merrett calls the Ruff _Cernua fluviatilis_, and mentions its
abundance in the River Yare at Norwich, which he (no doubt
inadvertently) assigns to the County of "Essex"; from this locality
Caius obtained the specimen, a drawing of which he sent to Gesner
under the name of _Aspredo_. Camden assigns this fish also to
Norwich, and Spencer, in his "Marriage of the Thames and Medway,"
writes of the Ruff:--
"Next cometh Yar, soft washing Norwich walls,
And with him bringeth to their festival
Fish whose like none else can show,
The which men Ruffins call."
This county seems to have been assigned an exclusive proprietorship
in the Ruff, to which, as Browne rightly points out, it had no just
claim.
Lampetra Lampries great & small[95] found plentifully in norwich riuer &
euen in the Citty about may [some _crossed out_] whereof some are very
large & well cooked are counted a dayntie bitt collard up butt
especially in pyes.
[95] Both the Sea Lamprey (_Petromyzon marinus_) and the Lampern
(_P. fluviatilis_) are found in the Norfolk rivers.
Mustela fluuiatilis or eele poult[96] to bee had in norwich riuer & [in
thalso _crossed out_] between it & yarmouth as also in the riuers of
marshland resembling an eele & a cod. a very good dish & the Liuer
thereof well answers the commendations of the Ancients.
[96] The Burbot, or Eel Pout (_Lola vulgaris_), called by Merrett a
Coney-fish, from its habit of concealing itself in holes in the
river banks. It is not sufficiently numerous now to form an article
of diet, and I imagine there are few living who could bear
testimony as to the esculent qualities of its "Liuer."
[_Fol 37._] Godgions or funduli fluuiatiles, many whereof may bee taken
within the [citty _crossed out_] Riuer in the citty:
Capitones fluuiatilis or millers thumbs, pungitius fluuiatilis or
stanticles. Aphia cobites fluuiatilis or Loches. in norwich riuers in
the runnes about Heueningham heath in the north riuer & streames
thereof.
Of eeles[97] the co[=m]on eele & the glot wch hath somewhat a different
shape in the bignesse of the head & is affirmed to have yong ones often
found within it. & wee haue found a vterus in the same somewhat
answering the icon thereof in Senesinus.
[97] The coarse variety of the Eel, known as the "Glout," or
Broad-nosed Eel, is believed to be the barren female; Browne's
informants were doubtless misled by the presence of certain
thread-worms (_Nematoxys_) in the abdomen of the eels, which they
mistook for young ones.
Carpiones carpes plentifull in ponds & sometimes large ones in broads
[_smear_] 2 the largest I euer beheld were [found _crossed out_] taken
[_added above_] in Norwich Riuer.
[A whole line is smeared out, and a break occurs in the MS. after the
observation on the Carp; it then proceeds to notice some other
inhabitants of the county which perhaps Browne had difficulty in
classifying.]
Though the woods and dryelands about [abound?] with adders and
vipers[98] yet are there few snakes about our riuers or meadowes more to
bee found in Marsh land butt ponds & plashes abound in Lizards or
swifts.
[98] Both Vipers (or Adders) and Snakes, the latter in particular,
are, I imagine, much less abundant than formerly, but the few
species of Lizards and Newts (Swifts) are still probably in
undiminished numbers; the Mole Cricket (_Gryllotalpa vulgaris_) is
rare with us; Horse-leeches (_Aulostoma gulo_) are frequent, and
also "Periwinkles," which I take to be various species of
freshwater Molluscs, possibly of _Limnæa_. The Hard-worm (or
Hair-worm), _Gordius aquaticus_, which refused to be generated from
"horsehayres," is still an object of wonder to the unlearned, and
the Great Black Water-Beetle (_Hydrophilus piceus_) is found; but
_forficula_ and _corculum_ were a puzzle, as it is evident from
their association they must be aquatic forms (and the Earwig
certainly does not take to the water voluntarily), till my friend,
Mr. C. G. Barrett, referred me to the following passage in
Swammerdam's "Book of Nature," p. 93: "This is most certain that
the _Forficula aquatica_ of Jonston is the true nymph of the
Mordella, or Dragon-fly,"[O] Dr. Charleton in his "Onomasticon," p.
57, has "Corculus, the Water-beetle, resembling an heart;" not very
definite, but probably the Whirligig Beetle, _Gyrinus natator_, is
intended; it is also an appellation given by some authors to "a
small species of cordiformis, or heart-shell, of a rose colour,"
doubtless a Cyclas or a Pisidium. Squilla is the Freshwater Shrimp
(_Gammarus pulex_), and _Notonecta glauca_, the Waterboatman "which
swimmeth on its back," is well known.
Otters are still numerous in the broads and reed-margined rivers,
and so long as these natural fastnesses endure in their present
condition they are likely to continue so.
[O] On reference to Jonston (_Historiæ Naturalis de Insectis_ Lib.
iv., "De Insectis aquaticis" i., p. 189, Tab. xxvii.), I find that
under the name of "_Forficulæ aquat[icæ]_. M [oufet]," he has two
figures, the first of which is possibly a Dytiscus larva, the
second that of some form of Dragon-fly, which however is
imperfect.
The Gryllotalpa or fencricket co[=m]on in fenny places butt wee haue met
with them also in dry places dung-hills & church yards of this citty.
Beside horseleaches & periwinkles in plashes & standing waters we haue
met with vermes setacei or hardwormes butt could neuer conuert
horsehayres into them by laying them in water as also the [_Fol. 38_]
the (_bis_) great Hydrocantharus or black shining water Beetle the
forficula, sqilla, corculum and notonecton that swimmeth on its back.
Camden [_smear_] reports that in former time there haue been [otters
_crossed out_] Beuers in the Riuer of Cardigan in wales. this wee are to
sure of that the Riuers great Broads & carres afford great store of
otters with us, a [des _crossed out_] great destroyer of fish as feeding
butt from ye vent downewards. [a prey _crossed out_] not free from being
a prey it self for their yong ones haue been found in Buzzards nests.
they are accounted no bad dish by many are to bee made very tame and in
some howses haue [semed _crossed out_] serued for turnespitts.
[Blank space.]
NOTE.--Although Browne's account of the Fishes is doubtless
derived from his personal observation, I have found it very
difficult in some families, such as the Cods, Rays, Gurnards,
Flat-fishes, and Gobies to identify them with the species as at
present known; in fact, they were at that time very imperfectly
differentiated, and the figures in the old authors are generally
so inexact as not to be recognisable. Ray, in 1674 ("English
Words not generally known," p. 101), thus writes of the sea
fishes, "several of them, we judge, not yet described by any
Author extant in print: indeed the writers of Natural History of
Animals living far from the Ocean, and so having never had
opportunity of seeing these kind of fishes ... write very
confusedly and obscurely concerning them," a remark which I have
found abundantly verified.
LETTERS TO MERRETT.
[MS. SLOANE. 1833. FOL. 14.]
No. 1.
"_My father to Dr. Meret July 13, 1668._"
Most honourd Sir,
[_Fol 14._] I take ye boldnesse to salute you as a person of singular
worth & learning and whom I very much respect & honour. I presented my
service to you by my sonne some months past, and had thought before this
time to have done it by him again, but the time of his returne to London
being yet uncertaine, I would not deferre these at present unto you. I
should be very glad to serve you by any observations of mine against yr.
second edition of your Pinax[99] which I cannot sufficiently commende. I
have observed and taken notice of many animals in these parts whereof 3
years agoe a learned gentleman of this country desired me to give him
some account, which while I was doing ye gentleman my good friend died.
I shall only at this time present and name some few unto you which I
found not in your catalogue. A Trachurus [_see Note 61_] which yearly
cometh before or in ye head of ye herrings called therefore an horse.
Stella marina testacea [_see Note 87_] which I have often found upon the
sea-shoare, an Astacus marinus pediculi marini facie [_see Note 81_]
which is sometimes taken with the lobsters at Cromer in Norfolck. a
pungitius marinus [_see Note 75_] wereof I have known many taken among
weeds by fishers who drag by ye Sea-shoare on this coast. A Scarabæus
capricornus odoratus[100] which I take to be mentioned by Moufetus fol.
150. I have taken some abroad one in my Seller which I now send he saith
_nucem moschatam et cinamomum vere Spirat_ to me it smelt like roses
santalum & Ambegris. I have thrice met with Mergus maximus Farensis
Clusij, [_see Note 11_] and have a draught thereof. they were taken
about the time of herring fishing at yarmouth one was taken upon the
shoare not able to fly away about ten yeares agoe I sent one to Dr.
Scarborough. Twice I have met with a Skua Hoyeri [_see Note 10_] the
draught whereof I also have. one was shot in a marsh which I gave unto a
gentleman which [_sic_] I can sende you another was killd feeding upon a
dead horse neere a marsh ground. Perusing your catalogue of Plants. upon
Acorus verus,[101] I find these wordes found by Dr. Browne neere Lin.
wherein probably there may be some mistake, for I cannot affirme nor I
doubt any other yt. is found thereabout. Some 25 yeares ago I gave an
account of this plant unto [this _crossed out_] Mr. Goodyeere:[102] &
more lately to Dr. How[103] unto whome I sent some notes and a box full
of the fresh Juli. This elegant plant groweth very plentifully and
beareth its Julus yearly by the bankes of Norwich river [fol. 13
_verso_] chiefly about Claxton and Surlingham. & also between norwich &
Hellsden bridge so that I have known Heigham Church in the suburbes of
Norwich strowed all over with it, it hath been transplanted and set on
the sides of Marish pondes in severall places of the country where it
thrives and beareth ye Julus yearly.
[99] It is evident that Merrett was collecting a considerable
amount of materials for an enlarged edition of his _Pinax Rerum
Naturalium Britannicarum_, on behalf of which Browne seems, by this
introductory letter, to have tendered his assistance, but the
contemplated edition, probably for reasons which I have mentioned
elsewhere, never appeared; happily, these rough drafts have been
preserved, although it seems not unlikely that the letters
themselves, should they ever be found, would differ from them in
some respects.
[100] _Scarabæus capricornus odoratus._ The Musk Beetle, _Aromia
moschata_, L.
[101] _Acorus calamus_, the Sweet Flag, is still found in plenty in
various localities in the county, but it does not appear to develop
its curious "julus" every year. It was very abundant at Heigham, a
suburb of Norwich, on the site now occupied by the goods yard of
the Midland and Great Northern Railway, and it was probably from
this spot that the supply was obtained for the purpose of littering
the floor of the old parish church. Mr. Vaux, in his "Church
Folk-Lore," p. 264, says that up to the passing of the Municipal
Reform Bill the Town Clerk of Norwich was accustomed to pay the
sub-sacrist of the cathedral an amount of one guinea for strewing
the floor with rushes on the Mayor's Day. The custom is said to
have been adopted "as well for coolness as for pleasant smell." The
pleasant cinnamon-like scent of the rush, on being trodden on, is
said to have perfumed the whole building. The root was also used as
a remedy in cases of ague, and formed the base of tooth and hair
powders.
[102] Towards the end of the Introductory Letter to Johnson's
(1636) Edition of Gerard's "Herball," he acknowledges the
assistance he received from Mr. John Goodyer, of Maple-Durham, in
Hampshire. Sir J. E. Smith ("Eng. Flora," iv., p. 34) speaks of him
as "one of the most deserving of our early English Botanists."
Robert Brown named a genus of plants (_Goodyera_) after Goodyer.
[103] William How, 1620-1656, was the author of "Phytologia
Britannica," Lond., 1650, "the earliest work on botany restricted
to the plants of this island" ("Dic. of Nat. Biog."). He practised
medicine in London.
Sesamoides Salamanticum Magnum.[104] Why you omit Sesamoides
Salamanticum parvum this groweth not far from Thetford and Brandon and
plentifull in neighbour places where I found it and have it in my hortus
hyemalis answering ye description in Gerard.
[104] _Sesamoides_ is stated in Ree's Encyclopædia and in Eng. Fl.
to be a synonym of _Reseda_, therefore _Sesamoides magnum_ would
appear to be _R. luteola_ and _S. parvum_, _R. lutea_.
Urtica Romana[105] which groweth with button seede bags is not in yr.
catalogue I have founde it to grow wild at [Golston _crossed out_]
Golston by Yarmouth, & transplanted it to other places.[P]
[105] _Urtica Romana_, which is again referred to as _U. mas_ near
the end of the third letter and as being found at Gorleston, is the
Roman Nettle, _U. pilulifera_. In 1834 the Pagets ("Nat. Hist. of
Great Yarmouth") reported it as still found under old walls at
Gorleston, "but rarer than formerly," and it is only in recent
years that it has been exterminated, owing to building operations
in that locality.
[P] This letter, evidently a copy as shown by the heading "My
father to Dr. Meret," is in the writing of Dr. Edwd. Browne.
[MS. SLOANE 1830. FOL. 39-40.]
No. II.
_Fol. 39._]
"_My second letter to Dr Meret Aug xiiii 1668._"
Honord Sr I receiued your courteous letter & am sorry some diuersions
have so long delayed this my second vnto you. You are very exact in the
account of the fungi. I have met with two,[106] which I have not found
in any Author, of which I have sent you a rude draught inclosed. The
first an elegant fungus Ligneus found in an hollow sallowe I haue one of
them by mee butt without a very good opportunitie dare not send it
fearing it should bee broken vnto some it seemed to resemble some noble
or princely ornament of the head & so might bee called fungus Regius
vnto others a turret, top of a cupola or Lanterne of a building & so
might bee named fungus pterygoides, pinnacularis or Lanterniformis you
may name it as you please. The second fungus Ligneus teres Antliarum or
fungus ligularis longissimus consisting [of _crossed out_] or made of
many wooddy strings about the bignesse of round poynts or Laces some
about half a yard long shooting in a bushie forme from the trees wch
serue vnderground for pumpes. I have obserued diuers especially in
norwich where wells are sunck deep for pumpes.
[106] Dr. Plowright informs me that "it is impossible to say with
certainty what the first named Fungus is; the description suggests
some form of Polyporus perhaps, _P. varius,_ which is a ligneous
species and occurs frequently on willows in Norfolk. The second is
the abortive form of _Polyporus squamosus_, which is well figured
by many of the older botanists, for instance under the name of
_Boletus rangiferinus_, by Bolton, t. 138, and _Boletus squamosus_,
var. _rangiferinus_, by Hooker, 'Flora Londinensis,' new series. In
many cases no pileus at all is formed and it used then to be
referred to Clavaria." The Phalloides is _Phallus impudicus_, L., a
very common species in this county and even occurring in some of
the city gardens where its exceedingly offensive odour renders it
very undesirable. Fungus rotundus is the well-known _Lycoperdon
giganteum_, Fr., which sometimes reaches a very large size.
The fungus phalloides found not farre from norwich large & very fetid
answering the description of Hadrianus junius I have a part of one dryed
by mee.
Fungus rotundus maior I haue found about x inches in Diameter & half
[_sic_, have?] half a one dryed by mee.
Another small paper containes the rude draughts of fibulæ marinæ
pellucidæ, [_see Note 90_] or sea buttons a kind of squalder & referring
to vrtica marina which I haue obserued in great numbers by yarmouth
after a flood & easterly winds. They resemble pure crystall buttons
chamfered or welted on the sides with 2 small holes at the ends. They
cannot bee sent for the included water or thinne gelly soon runneth from
them.
Vrtica marina minor jonstoni [_see Note 90_] I haue often found on this
coast. [Continued on fol. 39 _verso_.]
Physsalus [_see Note 89_] I haue often found also I haue one dryed but
it hath lost its shape & colour.
Galei & caniculæ [_see Note 56_] are often found I haue a fish hanged up
in my yard of 2 yards long taken among the Herrings at yarmouth which is
the Canis carcharias alius Johnstoni. Tab. vi fig. 6.
Lupus marinus you mention upon an handsome experiment butt I find it not
in the catalogue. This Lupus marinus or Lycostomus is often taken by our
seamen wch fish for cods I haue had diuers brought mee. they hang up in
many howses in Yarmouth.
Trutta marina is taken with us--a better dish than the Riuer trowt butt
of the same bignesse.
Loligo sepia a cuttle page 191 of your Pinax [_see Note 80_] I conceiue
worthy Sr it were best to putt them in 2 distinct lines as distinct
species of the Molles. The loligo, calamare or sleue I haue often found
cast up on the seashoare & some haue been brought mee by fishermen of
aboue [20 _crossed out_] twentie pound wayet.
Among the fishes of our Norwich riuer wee scarce reckon salmons [_see
Note 92_] yet some are yearly taken. butt all taken in the Riuer or
coast haue the end of the lower jaw very much hooked which enters a
great way into the upper jaw like a socket. you may find the same though
not in figure if you please to read Johnstonus fol 101 I am not
satisfied with the conceit of some authors there that is [it?] is a
difference of male and female for all ours are thus formed. The fish is
thicker than [oth _crossed out_] ordinarie salmons and very much & more
largely spotted whether not rather Beccard gallorum or Anchorago
Scaligeri I haue bothe draught & head of one dryed either of wch you may
command.
Scyllarus or cancellus in turbine tis probable you have [_see Note 84_].
haue you cancellus in nerite a small testaceous found upon this coast.
[_Fol. 40._] Haue you mullus ruber asper [_see Note 63_].
Haue [you] piscis octangularis Bivormii?[Q] [_see Note 66_, also pp. 65
and 87 _infra_].
[Q] Thus in the MS., but Browne seems to have intended to write
Bicornis Vormii, and accidentally to have run the two words
together [_see_ p. 41 _supra_].
vermes marini larger than earthwormes [_see Note 91_] digged out of the
sea sand about 2 foot deepe at an ebbe water for bayte they are
discouered by a little hole or sinking of the sand at the top aboue
them.
Haue you that handsome colourd [bird _crossed out_] jay [_see Note 49_]
answering the description of Garrulus Argentoratensis & may be called
the parret jay I haue one that was killed upon a tree about 5 yeares
ago.
Haue you a may chitt a small dark gray bird [_see Note 29_] about the
bignesse of a stint wch cometh about may & stayeth butt a moneth. a bird
of exceeding fattnesse and accounted a daintie dish. they are
plentifully taken in marshland and about wisbich.
Haue you a [caprimulgus or _written above_] dorhawke a bird as bigge as
[a] pigeon [_see Note 42_] with a wide throat bill as little as a
titmous & white fethers in the tayle & paned like an hawke.
Succinum rarò occurrit[107] pag 291 of yours. [Should be p. 219] not so
rarely on the coast of norfolk. tis usually found in small peeces [butt
_crossed out_] sometimes in peeces of a pound wayght. I haue one by mee
fat & fayre of x ounces wayght--jet more often found I haue an handsom
peece of xii ounces in wayet.
[107] Amber, writes Mr. Clement Reid, in a paper contributed by him
to the "Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc." (iii., p. 601), "is found
on the Norfolk coast, usually mixed with the seaweed thrown up by
the Spring gales," but is very rarely found in place; as much as
three or four pounds are annually gathered near Cromer. The
quality, Mr. Rein says, is very good, but the dark transparent
lumps are most generally found. In a subsequent paper (_op. cit._,
iv., p. 248) he enumerates seven species of insects which have been
found enclosed, and in a third communication mentions an eighth.
Mr. A. S. Ford, as the result of an examination of a collection of
East-coast Amber made at Yarmouth (_op. cit._, v., p. 92), adds one
species of Hymenoptera, three of Coleoptera, two of Orthoptera,
with some Araneida, and remains of vegetable substances which had
not been identified.
The Jet found on the Norfolk coast differs considerably from the
Whitby Jet, and Mr. Reid, "Geology of the Country Round Cromer" (p.
133), believes that in all probability it was originally derived
from Lower Tertiary beds under the North Sea, a few miles from the
present coast. Mr. Savin estimates the average annual find of Jet
near Cromer at from ten to twenty pounds.
The doctor does not display his usual acumen when he rejects the
"ancient" opinion as to the vegetable origin of Amber, see
_Pseudodoxia_, book ii., chap. iv.; also letter from Earl of
Yarmouth to T. B. (Wilkin Edit. i., p. 411).
No. III.
[FOL. 40 _verso_.]
"_My third letter Sept xiii._"
Sr I receaued your courteous Letter and with all respects I now agayne
salute you.
The mola piscis is almost yearely taken on our coast [_see Note 58_]
this [last _crossed out_] year one was taken of about 2 hundred pounds
wayght diuers of them I haue opened & haue found many lyce sticking
close vnto thier gills whereof I send you some.
In your pinax I find onocrotalus or pellican [_see Note 25_] whether you
meane those at St. James or others brought ouer or such as haue been
taken or killed heere I knowe not. I haue one hangd up in my howse wch
was shott in a fenne ten miles of about 4 yeares ago and because it was
so rare some conjectured it might bee one of those which belonged vnto
the King & flewe away.
Ciconia rarò hue aduolat. I haue seen two [_see Note 14_] one in a
watery marsh 8 miles of, another shott whose case is yet to bee seen.
[See Appendix D.]
Vitulus marinus. _In tractibus borealibus et Scotia_ [_see Note 53_]. no
raritie upon the coast of Norfolk at a lowe water I haue knowne them
taken asleep vnder the cliffes. diuers haue been brought vnto mee. our
seale is different from the Mediterranean seale. as hauing a rounder
head a shorter and stronger body.
Rana piscatrix I haue often known taken on our coast & some very large
[_see Note 59_].
Xiphias or gladius piscis or sword fish wee haue in our seas [_see Note
55_]. I haue the head of one which was taken not long ago entangled in
the Herring netts the sword aboue 2 foot in length.
Among the whales you may very well putt in the spermacetus [_see Note
51_] or that remarkably peculiar whale which so aboundeth in spermaceti.
about twelve years ago wee had one cast up on our shoare neer welles wch
I discribed in a peculiar chapter in the last edition of [_Fol. 41_] my
pseudodoxia epidemica. another was diuers yeares before cast up at
Hunstanton. both whose heads are yet to bee seen.
Ophidion or at least ophidion nostras [_see Note 69_] co[=m]only called
a sting fish hauing a small prickley finne running all along the back, &
another a good way on the belly, with little black spotts at the bottom
of the back finne if the fishermens hands bee touched or scrached with
this venemous fish they grow paynfull and swell the figure hereof I send
you in colours they are co[=m]on about cromer see Schoneveldeus de
Ophidiis.
Piscis octogonius or octangularis answering the discription of
Cataphractus Schoneveldei [_see Note 66_] only his is discribed with the
finnes spread & when it was fresh taken & a large one howeuer this may
bee nostras I send you one butt I haue seen much larger which fishermen
haue brought mee.
Physsalus [_see Note 89_]. I send one which hath been long opened &
shrunck & lost the colour when I tooke it upon the sea shoare it was
full & plump answering the figure & discription of Rondeletius. there is
also a like figure at the end of [Rondeletius _crossed out_] muffetus I
haue kept them aliue butt obserued no motion [butt _crossed out_] except
of contraction and dilation when it is fresh the prickles or brisles are
of a brisk green & Amethest colours--some call it a sea mous.
Our mullet is white & imberbis [_see Note 63_] butt wee haue also a
mullis barbatus ruber miniaceus or cinnaberinus somewhat rough & butt
drye meat. there is of them maior & minor resembling the figures in
Johnstonus tab xvii Rotbart.
Of the Acus marinus or needle fishes [_see Note 64_] I haue obserued 3
sorts. The Acus Aristotelis called heere an Addercock Acus maior or
Garfish with a green verdigris backbone the other saurus Acui similis
Acus sauroides or sauriformis as it may be called much answering to the
discription of saurus Rondeletij in the hinder part much resembling a
makerell opening one I found not the backbone green Johnstonus writes
nearest to it in his Acus minor. I send you the head of one dryed butt
the bill is broken I haue the whole draught in picture. this kind is
more rare then the other wch are co[=m]on & is a rounder fish.
[_Fol. 41 verso._] Vermes marini are large wormes [_see Note 91_] found
2 foot deep in the sea sands & are digged out at an ebbe for bayt.
The Avicula Maialis or may chitt [_see Note 29_] is a litle dark gray
bird somewhat bigger then a stint which co[=m]eth in may or the later
end of April & stayeth about a moneth. A marsh bird the legges & feet
black without an heele the bill black about 3 quarters of an inch long
they grow very fatt & are accounted a dayntie dish.
A Dorhawke a bird not full so bigge as a pigeon [_see Note 42_] somewhat
of a woodcock colour & paned somewhat like an hawke with a bill not much
bigger then that of a Titmouse [& very wide throat _added above_] known
by the name of a dorhawke or prayer upon beetles, as though it were some
kind of accipiter muscarius. in brief this accipiter cantharophagus or
dorhawke [_a word smeared out_] is _Avis Rostratula gutturosa_, _quasi
coaxans_, _scarabæis vescens_, _sub vesperam volans_, _ouum
speciosissim[=u]_ [_word smeared_] _excludens_. I haue had many of them &
am sorry I have not one to send you I spoake to a friend to shoote one
butt I doubt they are gone ouer.
of the vpupa [_see Note 35_] diuers have been brought mee & some I haue
obserued in these parts as I trauuyled about.
The Aquila Gesneri I sent [aliue _added above_] to Dr. Scarburg [_see
Note 3_] who told mee it was kept in the colledge it was brought mee out
of Ireland. I kept it 2 yeares in my howse I am sorry I haue only one
fether of it to send you.
A shooing horn or Barker from the figure of the bill & barking note
[_see Note 38_] a long made bird of white & blakish colour finne footed,
a marsh bird & not rare some times of the yeare in marshland. it may
upon vewe bee called Recuruirostra nostras or Auoseta much resembling
the Auosettæ [species _crossed out_] species in Johnstonus tab (54). I
send you the head in picture
[A _smeared out_] stone curliews I haue kept in large cages [_see Note
37_] the[y] haue a prettie shrill note, not hard to bee got in some
parts of norfolk.
[_Fol. 42_] Haue you Scorpius marinus Schoneueldei [_see Note 68_]
haue you putt in the musca Tulipar[=u] muscata[108]
[108] It seems impossible to identify this insect; _Merodon
narcissi_ has been suggested, but Mr. Verrall, whom I consulted
says, "certainly not _Merodon_, which probably was not known in
Britain until about 1870," and suggests the small fly _Nemopoda_.
Mr. Bloomfield writes that the only fly of which he has seen any
mention as having a musky or "excellent fragrant odour" is _Sepsis
cynipsea_, which Kirby and Spence state on the authority of De
Geer, "emits a fragrant odour of beaum" (balm); this species is
very nearly allied to Nemopoda. Several Bees, for instance the
Genus _Prosopis_, emit a strong scent of balm, and it is possible
that Browne may have used the term "fly" in what is even now a
popular sense, and that really some species of Bee may have called
forth his remarks. It will be noticed that at p. 74 he speaks of it
as a "small beelike flye."
That bird which I sayd much answered the discription of Garrulus
Argentoratensis [_see Note 49_] I send you it was shott on a tree x
miles of 4 yeares ago. it may well bee called the Parret Jay or Garrulus
psittacoides speciosus. the colours are much faded. if you haue it
before I should bee content to haue it agayne otherwise you may please
to keep it.
Garrulus Bohemicus[109] probably you haue a prettie handsome bird with
the fine cinnaberin tipps of the wings some wch I haue seen heere haue
the tayle tipt with yellowe wch is not in the discription.
[109] Mr. Stevenson, whom very little relating to Norfolk
Ornithology escaped, was well acquainted with Sir Thomas Browne's
works, yet has in his "Birds of Norfolk" unaccountably overlooked
this passage, and remarks that Browne does not appear to have
noticed this species; he however not only refers to it as above,
but evidently describes it from his personal observation. It is a
very uncertain winter visitor to this county, but on rare occasions
makes its appearance in considerable flocks. A remarkable instance
of this occurred in the winter of 1866-7, when Mr. Stevenson, as
the result of the examination of a very large series, contributed
an exhaustive paper on the plumage of this handsome bird to the
"Transactions of the Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc.," iii., pp. 326-344.
I haue also sent you urtica mas [_see Note 105_] which I lately gathered
at Golston by yarmouth where I found it to growe also 25 yeares ago. of
the stella marina Testacea which I sent you [_see Note 87_] I do not
find the figure in any booke.
I send you a few flies[110] which some unhealthful yeares about the
first part of september I haue obserued so numerous upon plashes in the
marshes & marish diches that in a small compasse it were no hard matter
to gather a peck of them I brought some what my box would hold butt the
greatest part are scatterd lost or giuen away for memorie sake I writ on
my box muscæ palustres Autumnales [See Appendix D.]
[110] Mr. Verrall assures me that even in the present day it is
quite impossible to recognise the species of Diptera described by
persons unacquainted with the particular group, and that Browne's
remarks would apply to hundreds of species. It is possible that an
_Ephydra_ may be meant. This genus of small flies, says Mr.
Verrall, abounds in such places as Browne describes, but it is
likely that other species were with them.
worthy Sr I shall be euer redie to serue you who am Sr your humble
Seruant
THO BROWNE.
_Norwich, Sep 16. 1668._
No. IV.
"_The fourth Letter to Dr. Merrett Decemb xxix._" [1668]
[_Fol. 42 verso._] Sr I am very joyfull that you haue recouered your
health whereof I heartily wish the continuation for your own and the
publick good. And I humbly thank you for the courteous present of your
booke.[111] with much delight and satisfaction I had read the same not
once in English I must needs acknowledge your co[=m]ent more acceptable
to me then the text which I am sure is an hard obscure peice without it.
though I haue not been a stranger unto the vitriarie Art both in England
and abroad.
[111] This evidently refers to the gift of a copy of Merrett's
Latin translation of Antonio Neri's _L'Arte Vetraria_ (Firenze,
1612, 4to), published under the title of "The Art of Glass,
translated into English with some observations on the Author," &c.,
in 1662, and a Latin edition in 1668.
I perceiue you haue proceeded farre in your Pinax. These few at present
I am bold to propose & hint unto you intending God willing to salute you
agayne.
A paragraph might probably be annexed unto Quercus. Though wee haue not
all the exotick oakes, nor their excretions yet these and probably more
supercrescences productions or excretions may bee obserued in England.
Viscum--polypodium--Juli pilulæ--
Gemmæ foraminatæ [formicatæ?] folior[=u]--
excrement[=u] fungosum verticibus scatens--
Excrementum Lanatum--
Capitula squamosa jacææ æmula.
Nodi--melleus Liquor--Tubera radicum
vermibus scatentia--Muscus--Lichen--
Fungus--varæ quercinæ.[112]
[112] The Rev. E. N. Bloomfield has most kindly assisted me in
attempting to identify the Parasitic products of the Oak mentioned
above:
_Viscum_, is doubtless the Mistletoe.
_Polypodium_, the Common Polypody Fern.
_Juli pilulæ_: "little balls on the flower catkins." The Currant
Gall, _Neurosterus baccarum_, which is the spring form of _N.
lenticularis_; Oliv.
_Gemmæ foraminatæ [formicatæ?] foliorum_: "pimple-like buds on the
leaves." Leaf-galls, such as the Silky Button, _N. numismatis_,
Oliv., and the common Spangle, _N. lenticularus_, Oliv.
_Excrementum fungosum verticibus scatens_: "a spongy secretion
bursting out from the ends of the shoots." The Oak Apple, _Biorhiza
terminalis_, Fab.
_Excrementum lanatum_: the Woolly Gall, _Andricus ramuli_, L., a
somewhat rare Gall, resembling a ball of cotton-wool.
_Capitula squamosa jacææ æmula_: "little scaley (or imbricated)
heads resembling the heads of Jacea" (Black Knapweed). The
Artichoke Gall. _Andricus fecundatrix_; Htg.
_Nodi_: probably swellings of any sort, whether caused by insects
or not.
_Melleus liquor_: Honey-dew, a secretion of Aphides.
_Tubera radicum vermibus scatentia_: "swollen tubers on the roots
containing grubs;" without doubt the Root-Gall, _Andricus radicis_,
Fab. Polythalamous Galls, often very large at the roots or on the
trunk near the ground.
Mosses, Lichens, and Fungi, all "genuine products of the Oak," need
no comment, but Mr. Bloomfield remarks, "How wonderfully observant
Sir Thomas Browne must have been thus to distinguish the various
galls, &c., and to point them out so distinctly."
Browne's contemporary, Dean Wren, seems sadly to have misunderstood
the fructification of the Oak. In a note on Browne's remarks on the
"Miseltoe" (_Pseudodoxia_, book ii., chap. vi.), he says,
"Arboreous excrescences of the Oak are soe many as may raise the
greatest wonder. Besides the gall, which is his proper fruite, hee
shootes out oakerns, i.e., _ut nunc vocamus_ (acornes), and oakes
apples, and polypodye, and moss; five several sorts of
excrescences." See also letter to his son, Dr. Edward Browne, in
which Sir Thomas Browne says that "wee haue little or none of
_viscus quercinus_, or miselto of the oake, in this country; butt I
beleeve they have in the woods and parks of Oxfordshyre."--Wilkin,
i, p. 279.
[_Fol. 43._] Capillaris marina sparsa fucus capillaris marinus sparsus
sive capillitius marinus or sea periwigge.[113] strings of this are
often found on the sea shoare. but this is the full figure I haue seen 3
times as large.
[113] In Sir Thomas Browne's time the Hydrozoa were not
distinguished from the Corallines, and both were regarded as
vegetable growths. It is almost impossible to determine from his
vague descriptions even to which section those mentioned belong,
but although our exposed coast-line is not favourable to such
growths, there are a few common species of Hydroid Zoophytes which
abound here, and to these, fortunately, Browne's specimens appear
to belong. What he calls the "Sea-perriwig" is doubtless
_Sertularia operculata_, Lin., sometimes known as "Sea-hair," a
very common and widely dispersed species.
I send you also [_several words smeared out_] a little elegant sea
plant[114] which I pulled from a greater bush thereof which I haue
resembling the back bone of a fish. Fucus marinus vertebratus pisciculi
spinum referens Icthyorachius or what you thinck fitt.
[114] The little "Fucus," which he compares to the backbone of a
fish, is probably _Halecium halecinum_, Lin., the "Herring-bone
Coral" of Ellis, one of the most common Zoophytes on our coast. The
"Abies," of which he suggests at p. 75 that this may be a
"difference," is most likely _Sertularia abietina_, Lin., which
this species resembles, but is less regularly pinnate; this may
have led him to suppose that the "sprouts, wings, or leaves" may
have fallen off. The _Fucus marinus_ is most likely _Fucus
serratus_.
And though perhaps it bee not worth the taking notice of formicæ
arenariæ marinæ or at least muscus formicarius marinus[115] yet I
obserue great numbers by the seashoare and at yarmouth an open sandy
coast, in a sunny day many large and winged ones may bee obserued upon &
rising out of the [shoare _crossed out_] wet sands when the tide falls
away.
[115] Swarms of Ants and Flies are no uncommon sight along the
seashore at certain seasons of the year, and under the conditions
which Browne describes. The Pagets ("Nat. Hist. of Great Yarmouth")
mention that the fly, _Actora æstuum_, is common on the beach at
high-water mark; but Mr. Verrall writes me that there are many
others likely to be thus met with, such as _Orygma luctuosa_ and
_Limosina zosteræ_, widely divergent species. In his "Journal of a
Tour" into Derbyshire, Dr. Edward Browne, in crossing the sands of
the Wash, mentions his satisfaction at the absence of the swarms of
flies "with which all the fenne countrys are extremely pestered."
_See also Note 110 supra._
Notonecton an insect that swimmeth on its back [_see Note 98_] &
mentioned by Muffettus may be obserued with us.
I send you a white Reed chock[116] by name some kind of Junco or litle
sort thereof I haue had another very white when fresh.
[116] It is impossible to form an idea as to what is here intended.
I know of no _Juncus_ which would answer the description. Professor
Newton reminds me__ that "Junco" was a common name for "a bird that
inhabited reeds," and was loosely applied, some old authors taking
it to be the Reed Thrush (_i.e._, the Great Reed-Warbler of these
days), and others, the Reed-Sparrow or Bunting. But bearing in mind
Browne's practice of referring to Jonston, it seems possible that
the latter's _Junco_ may be here intended, and that, as the figure
(pl. 53) shows, is a small Sandpiper, almost certainly the Dunlin.
It is lettered "Junco Bellonii," but this he must have taken
second-hand from Aldrovandus, since Belon never used the word
"Junco" in this connexion, but called it "Schoeniclus" or
"Alouette-de-mer"--terms rendered _Junco_ by Aldrovandus (iii. p.
487). Charleton took the same view in his "Onomasticon" (p. 108),
published in 1668 (the year assigned as that of this letter),
stating that it was so-called because "in juncis libenter degat,"
and identifying it with the _Alouette-de-mer_ of the French, and
the English "Stint, or Sparr, or Perr." Gilbert White appears to
have thus applied the term (_cf._ "Life" by Rashleigh Holt-White,
i. pp. 186, 194, 250). In one place he says, "No. five is Ray's
_Junco_ and the _Turdus arundinaceus_ of Linn." That "Junco" is the
name of a bird is absolutely certain, but the context, "very white
when fresh," does not seem to admit of explanation.
Also the draught of a sea fowle called a sherewater [_see Note 17_]
billed like a cormorant, feirce & snapping like it upon any touch. I
kept 2 of them aliue 5 weekes cramming them with fish refusing of
themselues to feed on anything & wearied with cramming them they liued
17 dayes without food. They often fly about fishing [ves _crossed out_]
shipps when they cleans their fish & throwe away the offell. so that it
may bee referred to the Lari as Larus niger gutture albido rostro
adunco.
Gossander videtur esse puphini species [_Pinax_, p. 184]. worthy Sr that
wch we call a gossander [_see Note 19_] & is no rare fowle among us is a
large well colourd & marked diuing fowle most answering the [mer
_crossed out_] Merganser. it may bee like the puffin in fattnesse and
[Ranknesse _crossed out_] Ranknesse butt no fowle is I think like the
puffin differenced from all others by a peculiar kind of bill
[_Fol 43 verso._] Barganders [_see Note 18_] not so rare as Turn
[Turner] makes them co[=m]on in Norfolk so abounding in vast & spatious
warrens.
If you haue not yet putt in Larus minor or a sterne [_see Note 13_] it
would not bee omitted, co[=m]on about broad waters and plashes not
farre from the sea.
Haue you a Yarwhelp, Barker, or Latrator [_see Note 39_] a marsh bird
about the bignesse of a Godwitt
Haue you Dentalia [_see Note 83_] which are small vniualue testacea
whereof sometimes wee find some on the seashoare
Haue you putt in nerites another little Testaceum which wee haue [_see
Note 83_].
Haue you an Apiaster a small bird calld a Beebird.[117]
[117] Probably the Spotted Flycatcher is here referred to, the
prefix not being used in a technical sense; it is known here as the
Beam-bird, either of which names may be a corruption of the other.
Another Norfolk name for this bird is the Wall-bird.
Haue you morinellus marinus or the sea Dotterell better colourd then the
other & somewhat lesse [_see Note 28_].
I send you a draught of 2 small birds the bigger called a Chipper or
Betulæ Carptor [_see Note 48_] cropping the first sproutings of the
Birch trees & comes early in the spring. The other a very small bird
lesse than the certhya or ox eyecreeper called a whinne bird
I send you the draught of a fish taken sometimes in our seas [_see Note
69_]. pray compare it with Draco minor Johnstoni. this draught was taken
from the fish dried & so the prickly finnes less discernible.
There is a very small kind of smelt [_see Note 71_] butt in shape &
smell like the other taken in good plenty about [wh _crossed out_] Lynne
& called Primmes.
Though Scombri Or Makerells [_see Note 73_] bee a co[=m]on fish yet [in
_crossed out_] our seas afford sometimes strange & large ones as I haue
heard from fishermen & others. & this yeare 1668 one was taken at
Lestoffe an ell long by measure & presented to a Gentleman a friend of
myne.
Musca Tuliparum moschata is a small beelike flye [_see Note 108_] of an
excellent fragrant odour which I haue often found at the bottom of the
flowers of Tuleps.
[_Fol. 44._] In the little box I send a peece of vesicaria or seminaria
marina [yo _crossed out_] cutt of from a good full one found on the sea
shoare [_see Note 91_].
Wee haue [_two or three words smeared out here_] also an eiectment of
the sea very co[=m]on which is fanago [_see Note 91_] whereof some very
large.
I thank you for communicating the account of Thunder & lightening some
strange effects thereof I haue found heere butt this last yeere wee had
litle or no Thunder & lightening. [_No signature._]
No. V.
DR. BROWNE TO MERRETT.
[This letter which was originally printed in the "Posthumous
Works," will be found in MS. Sloane 1911-13, fol. 106, where it
is headed in pencil as addressed to Sir Wm. Dugdale, but it was
restored to its proper place by Wilkin in the 1836 Edition of
the Works, i., p. 404.]
Honoured Sir
[_Fol. 106._] I am sorry I have had [diuersions _above_] of such
necessitie, as to hinder my more sudden salute since I receiued your
last. I thank you for the sight of the _Sperma Ceti_, and such kind of
effects from [Lightning & Thunder _written above_] I have known and
about 4 yeares ago about this towne when I with many others saw
fire-balls fly & go of when they met with resistance, and one carried
away the tiles and boards of a leucomb Window of my owne howse, being
higher then the neighbour howses & breaking agaynst it with a report
like a good canon. I set downe that occurrence in this citty & country,
& haue it somewhere [in _crossed out_] amongst my papers, and fragments
of a woman's hat that was shiuered into pieces of the bignesse of a
groat. I haue still by mee a little of the spermaceti of our whale, as
also the oyle & balsome wch I made with the oyle & spermaceti. Our whale
was worth 500 lib. my Apothecarie got about fiftie pounds in one sale of
a quantitie of sperm [_see Note 51_].
I made enumeration of the excretions of the oake which might bee
obserued in england [_see Note 112_], because I conceived they would bee
most obseruable if you set them downe together, not minding whether
there were any addition by excrementum fungosum vermiculis scatens I
only meant an vsuall excretion, soft & fungous at first & pale &
sometimes couered in part with a fresh red growing close vnto the
sprouts. first full of maggots in little woodden cells which afterwards
turne into little reddish browne or bay flies. of the tubera indica
vermiculis scatentia I send you a peece, they are as bigg as good
Tennis-balls & ligneous.
The little elegant fucus [_see Note 114_] may come in as a difference of
the abies, being somewhat like it, as also unto the 4 corrallium in
Gerard of the sprouts whereof I could never find any sprouts wings Or
leaves as in the abies whether fallen of I knowe not, though I call'd it
icthyorachius or pisciculi spinam referens yet pray do you call it how
you please I send you now the figure of a quercus mar. [inus] or alga
which I found by the seashoare differing from the co[=m]on [_see Note
114_] as being denticulated & in one place there seemes to bee the
beginning of some flower pod or seedvessell.
[_Fol 106. verso._] A draught of the morinellus marinus or sea doterell I
now send you. the bill should not have been so black & the leggs more
red, [_see Note 28_] & [the _crossed out_] a greater eye of dark red in
the feathers of wing and back: it is lesse & differently colourd from
the co[=m]on dotterell, wch [wee haue _crossed out_] cometh to us about
March & September. these sea-dotterells are often shot near the sea.
A yarewhelp or barker [_some words smeared out_] [_see Note 39_] a
marsh-bird the bill 2 inches long the legges about that length the bird
of a brown or russet colour.
That which is knowne by the name of a bee-bird [_see Note 117_] is a
litle dark gray bird I hope to get one for you.
That whch I call'd a betulæ carptor & should rather have calld it Alni
carptor [_see Note 48_] whereof I sent a rude draught. it feeds upon
alder [budds mucaments or _written above_] seeds which grow plentifully
heere & they fly in little flocks.
That [calld by some a _written above_] whin-bird is a kind of ox eye
butt the shining yellow spot on the back of the head [_see Note 48_] is
scarce to bee well imitated by a pensill.
I confess for such litle birds I am much unsatisfied on the names giuen
to many by countrymen, and vncertaine what to giue them myself, or to
what classes of authors cleerly to reduce them. surely there are many
found among us whch are not described; & therefore such whch you cannot
well reduce may (if at all) bee set downe after the exacter nomination
of small birds as yet of uncertain classe or knowledge.
I present you with a draught of a water-fowl not co[=m]on & none of our
fowlers can name it [_see_ p. 79 _infra_] the bill could not bee exactly
expressed by a coale or black chalk, whereby the litle incuruitie [at
the end _written above_] of the upper bill & small recurvitie of the
lower is not discerned. the wings are very short, & it is finne footed.
the bill is strong & sharp, if you name it not I am uncertaine what to
call it pray consider this Anatula or mergulus melanoleucus rostro
acuto.
[_Fol. 107._] I send you also the heads of mustela or mergus mustelaris
mas. et fæmina [_see Note 21_] called a wesel from some resemblance in
the head especially of the female wch is brown or russet not black &
white like the male. & from their praying quality upon small fish. I
have found small eeles small perches & small muscles in their stomacks.
Have you a sea phaysant [_see Note 22_] so co[=m]only calld from
resemblance of an hen phaisant in the head & eyes & spotted marks on the
wings & back. & wth a small bluish flat bill, tayle longer than other
ducks, long winges crossing over the tayle like those of a long winged
hawke.
Have you taken notice of a breed of porci solidi pedes.[118] I first
obserued them above xx yeares ago & they are still among us. [See also
p. 80 _infra_.]
[118] Mr. Darwin writes ("Anim. and Plants under Domestication,"
i., p. 78), that from the time of Aristotle to the present day,
Solid-hoofed Swine have been occasionally observed in various parts
of the world. Dr. Coues also says that this variety seems to be
persistent in a Texas breed. See also Professor Struthers in the
"Edin. New Phil. Journal," April, 1863. The two distal phalanges of
the two great toes, both front and back, in the examples described
by Professor Struthers, were joined together, forming a single
hoof-bearing bone. The next two phalanges were separate, and
sometimes kept widely apart from each other by the introduction of
a special ossicle. I have been told that about the year 1827, a
breed of solid-footed swine existed at or near Upwell. By some it
was thought that their flesh was not good for food because they
were "uncloven." Dr. Wren, in a note to Browne's _Pseudodoxia_
(book vi., chap. x.), says, "About Aug., 1625, at a farm 4 miles
from Winchester, I beheld with wonder a great heard of swine,
whole-footed, and taller than any other that ever I sawe."
Our nerites or neritæ are litle ones [_see Note 83_].
I queried whether you had dentalia [_see Note 83_] becaus probably you
might haue met with them in england. I neuer found any on our shoare
butt one brought mee a few small ones with smooth with [_sic_] small
shells from the shoare. I shall inquire further after them.
Urtica marina minor Johnst. tab. xviii. [_see Note 90_] haue found more
than once by the sea side.
The hobby and the merlin would not bee omitted among hawkes the first
coming to us in the spring the other about the autumn. Beside the ospray
wee have a larger kind of agle, calld an erne [_see Note 3_]. I haue had
many of them.
Worthy deare Sr, if I can do anything farther wch may bee seruiceable
unto you you shall ever readily co[=m]and my endeauours; who am, Sr,
Your humble & very respectfull seruant,
THO. BROWNE.
_Febr 6 [1668-9.]_
_Norwich._
No. VI.
[MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. MS. SLOANE 1847, FOL. 198.]
[This volume contains a Miscellaneous collection, mostly letters
to his son Edward, and some to "Tom." The following (as all in
the volume) is on letter-sized paper, 7-1/2 × 6 in.]
Worthy Sr
[_Fol. 198._] Though I writ vnto you last monday. yet hauing omitted
some few things wch I thought to have mentioned I am bold to giue you
this trouble so soone agayne haue you putt in a sea fish calld a bleak
[_see Note 74_] a fish like an herring often taken with us and eat butt
a more lanck & thinne & drye fish.
The wild swanne or elk [_see Note 8_] would not bee omitted, [here
_crossed out_] being co[=m]on in hard winters & differenced from [the
_crossed out_] our River swanns by the Aspera Arteria. [See also pp. 80
and 83 _infra_.]
Fulica and cotta Anglorum [_see Note 23_] are different birds though
good resemblance between them, so some doubt may bee made whether it bee
to bee made a coote except you set it downe fulica nostras. & cotta
Anglorum I pray consider whether that waterbird whose draught I sent in
the last box & thought it might bee named Anatula or mergulus
melanoleucos may not bee some gallinula. it hath some resemblance with
gallina hypoleucos of Johnst Tab 32 [31] butt myne hath shorter wings by
much & the bill not so long [_Fol. 198 verso_] & slender & shorter leggs
& lesser & so may ether be calld gallina Aquatica hypoleucos nostras or
hypoleucos or melanoleucos Anatula or mergulus nostras.[119]
[119] The "draught" of this bird sent to Merrett is not
forthcoming. Professor Newton has been kind enough to send me the
following note on this puzzling passage. "Jonston's figure (tab.
31) of _Gallina hypoleucos_, to which Browne says it bore some
resemblance, undoubtedly represents what we know as the Common
Sandpiper, _Totanus hypoleucus_ or _Actitis hypoleuca_, the
_Fysterlin_ of the Germans of Jonston's time (p. 160), and
_Fisterlein_ or _Pfisterlein_ of modern days. But there seems to be
some strange confusion that cannot now be cleared, between this
bird and Browne's _Anatula_ or _Mergulus melanoleucos_ [_see_ p. 76
_ante_], of which some years later, he sent a drawing, under the
latter name, to Willughby, in whose work it is described and
figured (Lat. Ed. p. 261, Engl. 343, tab. lix.), for this most
certainly is the Rotche or Little Auk, _Mergulus alle_ of modern
ornithology." In the next letter (p. 81), Browne mentions that he
encloses the draft of "Ralla aquatica" here referred to.
Tis much there should be no Icon of Rallus or Ralla Aquatica I haue a
draught of one & they are found among us
Feb xii 1668.
The vesicaria I sent is like that you mention [_see Note 91_] if not the
same the co[=m]on fanago resembleth the husk of peas this of [Part
_crossed out_] Barly when the flower is mouldred away. [See also p. 89
_infra_, where Merrett aptly compares the latter to the flowers of the
Grape Hyacinth.]
No. VII.
[BIBLIOTHECA BODLEIANA. MS. RAWLINSON D. cviii. SR THO BROWN TO DR.
MERRETT.]
[_Fol. 105._] Sr I craue your pardon for this delayed returne unto your
last, whose courteus acceptance & worthy entertaynment [?] deserued [a
speed _blotted out_] even a speedier reply. The small plant may fitly
come in among the corallines upon the [diff _crossed out_] account of
articulation Icthyorachius [_see Note 114_] I think will bee a good
Diference [?]. whether you will subexpand [?] the word I referre it to
yourself. certhia may best bee vertice aureo [_word blotted out_] or
vertice aureo penicello vix imitando. morinellus marinus [_see Note 28_]
I think rather then Aquaticus becuse it is seen most about the sea
coast. Anas alis oculatis[120] rather then Anser for it is not
altogether so longe as a wild duck. of porci solidipedes [_see Note
118_] there are still in this country in some places. and I am promised
a pigge by a Gentleman that hath still a boar and sow of that kind. I
tooke notice of them 26 years ago & having not lately [met with _crossed
out_] met with any thought the race had been worne out butt I perceue it
is not--they are whole footed in the forfeet & have [only _crossed out_]
a seame only in the hinder. so they are animalia duplici nomine
i[=m]unda. The wild swans or elk [_see Note 8_] in [very _crossed out_]
lasting cold winters are most plentifull. It is larger then the River
swan somewhat gray & of a lowder note & [differenced call _crossed
out_] a recuruation of the Aspera arteria in the sternon as I noted in
the margin long agoe in vulgar errors. the blicca marina [_see Note 74_]
may well be named Harengiformis. [_several words smeared out_] I have
the draught of that an Herring & a pilcher in one paper upon that
account [Fol. 104 _verso_] I belieue [?] you were well informd of the
cotta [_see_ p. 79] & fulica of our Ralla Aquatica I enclose a draught.
[120] Possibly the Pintail, _Dafila acuta_ (Linn.), _see_ p. 77.
Of porci solidipedes there are diuers still in the country in some
places I am promised a pigge by a friend who cherisheth that [new
_crossed out_] breed. I tooke notice of them 26 yeares ago, & hauing not
lately minded them thought they had been worn out butt I perceiue they
are not--some are more plainly wholefooted then others & especially in
the fore feet & in the rest there is no thorough fissure butt at most a
superficiall seame, so they are [No. 3 cap 27 _above_] Quadrupedia
duplici nomine i[=m]unda.
[This last paragraph seems to have been written by way of emendation of
what appears above on the same subject. A photograph of a portion of the
above letter will, by the courtesy of the Bodleian Librarian, be found
as a frontispiece to this volume. Mr. Jenkinson, the Librarian of the
University of Cambridge, and through him, Mr. G. F. Warner and Mr.
Kenyon, of the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum, have
kindly interested themselves in the transcript of this letter, which was
very difficult to decipher.]
No. VIII.
BIBLIOTHECA BODLEIANA (MS. RAWL. D. cviii.)
[Draft of a letter from Sir Thomas Browne, described in the
Catalogue of the Rawlinson MSS. as to the Secretary of the Royal
Society, but from its contents evidently written to Merrett,
whose letter, dated 8th May, 1669, is in part a reply to it.]
[_Fol 58._] Honord Sr I humbly thank you for your care of my sonnes
paper & the Royll Societie for their acceptance of it. If hee bee in
health I knowe hee is mindfull of their co[=m]ands receiued aboue 2
months ago by a letter from Mr. Oldenburg.[121] I haue not heard from
him of late the last I receiued was from Komorn[R] in Lower Hungary and
hee was then going to the mine countryes. I think the Rowd may bee calld
Rutilus ventre magis compresso[122] w^{ch} is the first discoverable
difference to the eye. The weazelling [_see Note 60_] is as you see in
the draught a long fish figura ad teretem vergente. somewhat of the
shape butt differing in the head from the _mustela viuipara_ of
Schoneueld. butt not lozenged on the back though the back bee much
darker then the other parts. I send you the figure of the head of a
cristated wild duck. it is black blackish [_sic_] in the greater part of
the body some white on the brest & wings blewish legges & bill & seems
to bee of the Latirostrous tribe perhaps you haue it not. it may bee
called _Anas macrolophos_ [Fol. 59] as excelling in that kind.[123]
there is also a draught of one sort of _mergus cristatus_ resembling
that of Aldrovandus or Johnstonus where there is only the figure of the
head only this is also ruffus butt the head sad red.[124] wee haue a
kind of teale which some fowlers call crackling teale from the noyse it
maketh[125] it is almost of the bignesse of a duck coming late of the
yeare & latest going away hath a russet head & neck with a dark yellow
stroak about a quarter of an inch broad from the crowne to the bill
winged like a teale a white streake through the middle of the wings and
edges thereof the tale blackish. it may be calld Querquedula maior
serotina. I send you the figure in litle of a pristis[126] w^{ch} I
receaued from a yarmouth seaman. you may please to compare it w^{th}
yours. the asper you mention is much like our Rough or Aspredo.
[121] Henry Oldenburg (1615-1677) was born at Bremen. Came to
England about 1640, where he remained eight years. In 1653 he was
sent to England from Bremen on a diplomatic mission to Cromwell. He
returned to England a third time in 1660. He was an original Member
of the Royal Society, and became one of its first Secretaries. A
half-length portrait is in the possession of the Royal Society.
[R] A well-known town on the Danube, forty-seven miles west of
Buda-Pesth, probably the Comorra of E. Browne's letter to his
father, _cf._ Wilkin, i., p. 159.
[122] The Rudd (_Leuciscus erythrophthalmus_, Will.) is known in
Norfolk as the Roud. Browne seems to treat it as a variety of the
Roach (_Rutilus_, Willugh.), and Merrett in his second letter
remarks with approval "you have very well named the Rutilus."
[123] _Fuligula cristata_ (Linnæus), the Tufted Duck.
[124] Professor Newton suggests that Browne intended to write
_Mergus cirratus_. Aldrovandus figures the head, iii., p. 283, and
that of _M. longirostris_ in the preceding page. This last is
copied by Jonston (fol. 47). Both birds seem to be female or
immature Goosanders. Neither author has a _M. cristatus_.
[125] The above description certainly applies to the Common Teal,
which was well-known to Browne (_vide supra_, p. 14), and that
species is with us all the year; I cannot help thinking, however,
that he had in his mind the Garganey, or Summer Teal, so called
from the season of its visit to us. This species is known to the
Norfolk gunners as the "Cricket Teal," and being slightly larger
than the common species it might well be called by him
"_Querquedula major serotina_."
[126] _See Note 55_, p. 36. It will be noticed that both this and
the _Centriscus_ mentioned at p. 41 were given to Browne by a
"seaman of these seas," but may possibly have been brought home as
curiosities from a foreign voyage; the Saw-fish, however, mentioned
at p. 36, is distinctly stated to have been "taken about Lynn." It
is a matter of intense regret that the numerous drawings mentioned
in these letters should have been lost.
I forgot in my last to signifie that an oter [an other?] Elk or wild
swan was headed like a goose that is without any knobb at the bottome of
the bill. [_See_ p. 80 and _Note 8_.]
Haue you had the duck called Clangula in Ald. [drovandus] & Johnst.[127]
wee haue one heere w^{ch} answereth their descriptions exactly butt
[_i.e._, except] only in the colour of their leggs & feet.
[127] Aldrovandus's figure of "Clangula" (head only, iii., p. 224)
is too indefinite for determination. He says the feet are yellow,
but Jonston, who refers to it under the name of _Anas platyrhincus_
describes it fairly well (p. 145). _Clangula ab alarum clangore_,
Aldrov., _i.e._, "Rattlewings," an old name by which the Golden-eye
was known to the Norfolk gunners.
Haue you a willock a sea fowl like a rook or crowe.[128]
[128] A local name for the Guillemot. Merrett says, in a letter
dated 8th May, 1669, "The Clangula I know no more of than reading
hath informed mee; [_see Note 127_] a willock I have seen brought
from Greenland,[S] where they are said exceedingly to abound, but
never thought either of them was found in England, and having not
taken sufficient notice of the latter, crave your description of
both."
[S] The Greenland of those days was Spitsbergen, where they would
be met with by the Whalers, but in that case the bird would be
Brünnich's Guillemot, a species not then differentiated.
No. IX.
[MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. MS. SLOANE 1847, FOL. 182.]
[_Fol. 182._] Sr I craue your pardon that I haue no sooner sent unto
you. I shall be very reddie to do you service in order to your desires
And shall endeavour to procure you such animalls as I haue formerly met
with & any other not ordinary wch [shall _crossed out_] are to bee
acquired. though many of my old assistants are dead. & sometimes they
fell upon animalls, [not to bee _crossed out_] scarce to bee met with
agayne. I wish I had been acquainted with your desires 3 yeares ago. for
I had about fortie hanging up in my howse. wch the plague being at the
next doores the person intrusted in my howse, burnt or threw away. The
figure of the weasell Cray [_see Note 60_ and p. 82] was in a long paper
pasted together at the ends & I make no question you will find it
otherwise I would send another [the willick wee in _crossed out_] that
fowl wch some call willick, [_see Note 128_] wee meet with sometimes.
The last I met with was taken on the sea shoare. the head and body black
the brest inclining to black headed and billd like a crowe, leggs set
very backward wings short leggs set very backward (_sic_) that it move
overland very badly only. it may bee a kind of cornix marina. [The
latter portion very badly written and difficult to decipher.]
[_Fol. 184 verso._] That litle plant upon oyster shells [_see Note 91_]
I remember I haue seen & surely is some kind of vescaria or calicularia
of what that other [was _crossed out_] electricall body was Mr.
Boyle[129] showed [_smear_] by this time more tryall hath probably been
made, something of jet it might consist of.
[129] The Hon. Robert Boyle (1627-1691), although deeply learned in
many branches of science, was chiefly distinguished as a chemist.
He took a leading part in the founding of the Royal Society, and
was elected President in 1680, but from some conscientious scruple
did not accept the office. Naturalists are deeply indebted to him,
as he was "the first that made trial of preserving animals" in
spirit (see Grew's "Musæum Regalis Societatis" (London, 1681), p.
58).
I thank you that you were pleased to enquire of those German gentlemen
concerning my sonne I receiued a letter lately from him he hath not
been unmindfull of the R. Society's co[=m]ds & hath been in Hungaria in
the mines of Gold, sylver & copper at Schemets, Cremitz & Neusol &
desired mee to signifie so much to Mr. Oldenberg.
[The above is hastily scrawled; it was evidently indited to Merrett, as
indicated by the reference to the German gentlemen, &c.; the date would
therefore be some time in the year 1669. Wilkin prints it in the 1836
Edition, Vol. i., p. 408, but it is not in Bohn's reprint.]
APPENDIX A.
[TWO LETTERS FROM DOCTOR CHRISTOPHER MERRETT TO SIR THOMAS BROWNE, MS.
SLOANE 1830, FOL. 1 TO 3. THEY ARE BOUND UP IN INVERSE ORDER OF DATE.]
[Reply to No. 2 in the above Series.]
[_Fol. 3._] WORTHY SR,--y^{rs} of y^e 14^{th} instant I recaeved as full
off learning in discovering so many very great curiosities as kindness
in communicating them to mee & promising y^r farther assistance. ffor
which I shall always proclame by my tongue as well as by my pen, my due
resentment & thanks.
The 2 funguses [guses _crossed out and_ i _inserted_] y^w sent y^e
figures off [_see Note 106_] are y^e finest & rarest as to their figure
I have ever seen or read of, & soe is y^r fibula marina, far surpassing
one I reacived from Cornwall much of y^e same bigness, neither of which
I find anywhere mentioned. The urtica marina minor Jonst. & physalus I
never met with, nor have bin informed off y^e canis charcharius alius
Jonst. Many of y^e Lupus piscis I have seen, & have bin informed by y^e
Kings fish monger they are taken on our coast, but was not satisfyed for
some reasons off his relation soe as to enter it into my pinax, though
tis said to bee peculiar to y^e river Albis [= Elbe] yet I thought they
might come sometimes thence to y^r coasts. Trutta marina I haue and y^e
loligo, sepia, & polypus y^e 3 sorts off y^e molles have bin found on
our western coasts which shall bee exactly distinguished--As for y^e
Salmons taken a bove London towards Richmond & nearer, & y^t in great
quantity some years they have all off them their lower jaw as y^w
observ, [_see Note 92_] & our fishermen [men _crossed out_] say they
usually wear off some part off it on y^e banks or els y^e lower would
grow into y^e upper & soe starve them as they have sometimes seen--y^w
ask whether I haue y^e mullus ruber asper, or y^e piscis Octangularis
Wormii. or y^e sea worm longer than y^e earth worms, or y^e garrulus
Argentor. or y^e duck cal'd a May chit or y^e Dor hawke. The 4 first I
haue noe account off y^e 2 later I know not especially by those names,
wee have noe hawk by y^t name [_see Note 42_] y^r account of succinum as
all y^e rest will bee registered. As for y^e Aquila Gesneri I never saw
nor heard off any such in y^e Collidge for [_fol. 3 verso_] this 25
years last past. Sr y^w are pleased to say y^w shall write more if y^w
know how not to bee surpurfluous--certainly what y^w have hitherto done
hath bin all curiosities, & I doubt not but y^w have many more by you--I
can direct y^w noe further than y^r own reason dictates to y^w. Besides
those mentioned in y^e pinax I have 100 to add, & cannot give y^w a
particular off them--whatever y^w write is either confirmative or
additional. I doe entreat this favour off y^w to inform mee fuller off
those unknown things mentioned herein, & to add y^e name page &c of y^e
Author if mentioned by any or else to give them such a latin name for
them as y^w have done by y^e fungi which may bee descriptive &
differencing off them. Sr I hope y^e publigs [_sic_] interest & y^r own
good genius will plead y^r pardon desired by
y^r humble servant
CHR. MERRETT.
_London Aug. 29. 68._
[Reply to No. 8 of the above Series.]
[_Fol. 1._] WORTHY SR,--my due thanks premised I at present acquaint y^w
y^t y^w have very well named y^e Rutilus & expressed fully y^e cours to
bee taken in y^e imposition of names viz y^e most obvious & most
peculiar difference to y^e ey or any other sens. I am farther to say y^t
y^e icon of y^e weazeling came not to my hands, pray bee pleas'd to look
amongst y^r papers perhaps it might bee laid by through some accident or
other [I have _added above_] y^e figures of y^r anas macrolophos, & of
y^e mergi cristati [_see Note 124_] & of y^e pristis y^t which came from
Cornwall was of y^e gladius, y^e name of sword fish being applied to
both of them by our nation. It seemeth by y^w y^t y^e Norwich aspredo is
not y^e Ceruna fluviatilis contrary to what Camden affirms, for y^e
rutilus mentioned in mine to y^w differs toto coelo from y^e
ceruna--The difference of y^e Elks bill by y^w signified is remarkable
to distinguish it from others of its own kind. [_See_ p. 83 _supra_.]
The crackling teal seems [clearly _crossed out_] to bee y^e same which
Dr Charleton[130] mentions in his Onomasticon under y^e name of y^e
cracker,& showing him y^r description hee acknowledged to bee y^e same,
y^e clangula I know noe more of than reading hath informed mee, a
willock I have seen brought from Greenland where they are said
exceedingly to abound, but never y^t [thought?] either of them was found
in England, & having [not _added above_] taken sufficient notice of it
y^e later, crave y^r description off both.
[130] In Charleton's "Onomasticon," at p. 99, the Cracker is called
by him, _Anas caudacuta_, and is said to be the "Gaddel" of the
London dealers in fowl. [_See Note 125._]
And now Sr since my last only 2 things remarkable haue come to my
knowledge. The one was a cake off black amber 1/6 off an inch thick &
neer a palm each way. Mr. Boyle brought it to y^e R. society to whom it
was sent from y^e Sussex shore, hee had only tryed it to its electricity
& found it answer his expectation, farther tryals will be made of it.
The second is a small plant found on oyster shells which when fresh did
perfectly represent y^e flowers off Hyacinthus botryoides, [_see Note
91_] but y^t was somewhat longer & not so much sweld out towards its
pedunculus, some of them are here inclosed. Tis doubtless a sort off
vesicaria, though much different from what y^w sent mee. Most off them
are now shrunk & y^e sides constituting y^e cavity come together &
appear only a transparent husk. One thing more I had to add (but
scarcely dare speak it out) y^t is if it would please [you _added
above_] to let it bee done without y^r charge & 2ly if it might be done
without y^r trouble, then I would beg off y^w to set some a work to
procure mee some of those rare animals &c y^w have mentioned in your
seueral Letters. My intention therein is double: first to take their
descriptions & furnish our colledge with them as curiosities, all being
lost by y^e fire this is onely wished but must not bee proposed without
y^e former limitation by y^r too much allready obliged friend & servant
_8th May '69._
CHR. MERRETT.
I met this week with some persons off quality high Germans who lately
saw y^r son & record all good things off him.
ffor Dr Browne off Norwich.
[The reply to this letter is No. IX of the above Series.]
APPENDIX B.
[MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. MS. SLOANE 1847, FOL. 56-57.]
[_See Note 51_, p. 32 _supra_.]
Praye Request Mr. Johnson to obtayne this fauor of Mr. Bacon who is
unknown to mee, to afford mee his resolution to these few queries
concerning the whale [wch _crossed out_] whereof I understand he had the
cutting up and disposure whether there were any spermacetie found, or
made out of other parts beside the head; if soe, of what parts & out of
what most: and whether any out of the meere fleshie parts whether that
wch runne from it about the shoare came out of the mouth.
[_Not signed or dated._]
REPLY.
Sr in Answer to your questions conserninge the whale, I founde noe
Sper[=m]e but in his heade and that after I had taken off his scalpe one
tonn weight [or more _written above_] of a nexuous substance, we found
in the circumference as large as a small coach wheele in the middle part
certain round pieces of Sperm as bigge as a mans fist some as large as
eggs and on the out side of the said rounds, flakes as large as a mans
head in forme like hony combs being very white and full of oyle. And
that Sp. wch was cast upon the shore I doe conceive came out of his
nostrells. thus much ffrom him who doth remayne Sir your humble Servant,
Arthur Bacon Yarmouth 10th May 1652.
BROWNE TO DUGDALE ON CERTAIN FOSSIL BONES.
["EASTERN COUNTIES COLLECTANEA," pp. 193-195].
The letter referred to in the foot-note on page 33, written by
Sir Thomas Browne to Dugdale, and formerly in the possession of
the late Mr. Arthur Preston of Norwich, whose collection of
manuscripts was dispersed by auction in August, 1888, was
printed in a brief-lived and little-known local publication,
entitled the "Eastern Counties Collectanea" (1872-3), at page
193. In this letter occurs a passage which confirms the doubt
expressed as to the Whales which had young ones after coming on
shore at Hunstanton being Sperm Whales. They are expressly said
to have been of that sort "which seamen call a Grampus," and as
Sir Nicholas le Strange, in a MS. preserved in the Muniment room
at Hunstanton, applies the name "Grampus" to an undoubted
specimen of _Hyperoodon rostratus_ (as shown both by his
description and outline sketch) which came ashore there in the
year 1700, I have little doubt that the Cetaceans in question
belonged to that species and not to _Physeter macrocephalus_.
This letter is interesting also as filling a gap in Wilkin's
series and I therefore reproduce it, omitting only occasional
learned digressions which do not affect the subject. The
original not being available, I have used the copy in the
"Collectanea" before mentioned.
Dugdale, in November, 1658, and again later, had written to
Browne, sending him a bone of a "fish which was taken up by Sir
Robert Cotton, in digging a pond at the skirt of Conington
downe," and asking his opinion thereof. (Wilkin, i., pp. 385 and
390.)
To the first of these letters Browne replied, under date of the
6th December, 1658, "I receaued the bone of the fish, and shall
giue you some account of it when I have compared it with
another bone which is not by mee" (op. cit. p. 387). The letter
which follows and which was unknown to Wilkin supplies this
information.
[p. 193.] "Sr I cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious industry of Sr
Robert Cotton in preserving so many things of rarity and observation nor
commend your own enquiries for the satisfaction of such particulars. The
petrified bone you sent me, which with divers others was found
underground, near Cunnington, seems to be the vertebra, spondyle or
rackbone of some large fish, and no terrestrious animal as some upon
sight conceived, as either of Camel, rhinoceros, or elephant, for it is
not perforated and hollow but solid according to the spine of fishes in
whom the spinal marrow runs in a channel above these solid racks, or
spondiles.
"It seems much too big for the largest Dolphins, porpoises, or sword
fishes, and too little for a true or grown whale, but may be the bone of
some big cetaceous animal, as particularly of that which seamen call a
Grampus; a kind of small whale, whereof some come short, some exceed
twenty foot. And not only whales but Grampusses have been taken in this
Estuarie or mouth of the fenland rivers. And about twenty years ago four
were run ashore near Hunstanton and two had young ones after they came
to land. But whether this fish were of the longitude of twenty foot (as
is conceived) some doubt may be made for this bone containeth little
more than an inch in thickness, and not three inches in breadth so that
it might have a greater number thereof than is easily allowable to make
out that longitude. For of the whale which was cast upon our coast about
six years ago a vertebra or rackbone still preserved, containeth a foot
in breadth and nine inches in depth, yet the whale with all advantages
but sixty-two foot in length. [p, 194.] We are not ready to believe
that, wherever such relics of fish or sea animals are found, the sea
hath had its course. And Goropius Becanus[131] long ago could not digest
that conceit when he found great numbers of shells upon the highest
Alps. For many may be brought unto places where they were not first
found.
[131] This seems to refer to the "De Gigantibus eorumque reliquiis"
of J. van Gorp, Jean Bécan, or Joannes Goropius (as the name is
variously given in the "Biographie Universelle" (b. 1518, d. 1572),
and apparently published after the Author's death by Jean
Chassanion, 8vo, Basileæ, 1580, and another edition in 1587. See
Brit. Mus. Cat.; but I have not seen the book.
"Some bones of our whale were left in several fields which when the
earth hath obscured them, may deceive some hereafter, that the sea hath
come so high. In northern nations where men live in houses of fishbones
and in the land of the Icthiophagi near the Red sea where mortars were
made of the backbones of whales, doors of their jaws, and arches of
their ribs, when time hath covered them they might confound after
discoverers....
"For many years great doubt was made concerning those large bones found
in some parts of England, and named Giants' bones till men [p. 195]
considered they might be the bones of elephants brought into this island
by Claudius, and perhaps also by some succeeding emperors [then follow
other ancient examples of the finding 'elephants bones' in various
countries attributed to similar modes of introduction]. But many things
prove obscure in subterraneous discovery....
"In some chalk pits about Norwich many stag's horns are found of large
beams and branches, the solid parts converted into a chalky and fragile
substance, the pithy part sometimes hollow and full of brittle earth and
clay. In a churchyard of this city an oaken billet was found in a
coffin. About five years ago an humourous man of this country after his
death and according to his own desire was wrap't up in a horned hide of
an ox and so buried.[T] Now when the memory hereof is past how this may
hereafter confound the discoverers and what connjectures will arise
thereof it is not easy to conjecture.
[T] Richard Ferrer, of Thurne, by his will, proved about 1654,
directed that his "dead body be handsomely trussed up in a black
bullock's hide, and be decently buried in the Churchyard of
Thurne."--"Norfolk Archæology," v., p. 212.
Sr Your servant to my power,
THO. BROWNE."
This is endorsed "Sr Thomas Browne's discourse about the Fish bone found
at Conington Com. Hunt, Shown, Dr. Tanner."
APPENDIX C.
[SLOANE MS. ADDITIONAL 5233, LARGE FOLIO, IS A VOLUME LABELLED "DR. EDW.
BROWN'S DRAWINGS."]
"Some original drawing of Towns, Castles, Antiquities, Medals
&c. by Dr. Edward Browne in his Travels & presented by his
Father Sir Thomas Browne. Who hath write upon sev^{ll} of them
what they are."
The above is the inscription written on the fly-leaf of this volume,
which I hoped might have contained some drawings of birds or fishes by
Sir Thomas Browne, but there is nothing in it of interest from a Natural
History point of view. In Wilkin's Catalogue of the MSS. (Vol. iv., p.
476) it is described as "a collection of very curious drawings (some
coloured) of public buildings, habits, _fishes_, mines, rocks, tombs,
and other antiquities, observed by Sir Thos. and Dr. Edward Browne in
their travels," but there are no fishes, birds, or other animals in the
volume.
APPENDIX D.
Draft of a letter from Sir Thomas Browne to his daughter
Elizabeth, enclosing two pictures of a Stork. This and the next
letter are in the Bodleian Library (MS. Rawl. D. cviii.)
[_Fol. 70._] This is a picture of the stork [_see Note 14_] I mentiond
in my last. butt it is different from the co[=m]on stork by red lead
colourd leggs and bill[132] and the feet hath not vsuall sharp poynted
clawes butt resembling a mans nayle, such as Herodotus discribeth the
white Ibis of Ægypt to haue. The ends of the wings are black & when shee
doth not spred them they make all the lower part of the back looke
black, butt the fethers on the back vnder them are white as also the
tayle. it fed upon snayles & froggs butt a toad being offered it would
not touch it. the tongue is about half an inch long. the quills of the
wing are as bigge or bigger then a swans quills. it was shott by the
seaside & the wing broake. Some there were who tooke it for an euell
omen saying If storks come ouer into England, god send that a
co[=m]onwealth doth not come after.[U]
[132] Browne evidently was not very familiar with the Stork, which
is not surprising, seeing that it is a very rare bird in Britain;
it may be that he had only seen the bird in its immature stage, for
the "red-lead" hue of the legs is very characteristic of the adult
bird. [_See also Note 14_, p. 10.]
[U] In reference to the Dutch fable of those days that Storks would
only inhabit republican countries.
That picture with the lesser head is the better.
MS. RAWL. D. cviii.
Draft of a letter containing further particulars with regard to
the Stork. There is nothing to indicate to whom it was
addressed.
[_Fol. 77._] A kind of stork was shott in the wing by the sea neere
Hasburrowe & brought aliue vnto mee. it was about a yard high red lead
coloard leggs and bill. the clawes resembling human nayles such as
Herodotus describeth in the white Ibis of Ægypt The lower parts of the
wings are black which gathered up makes the lower part of back looke
black butt the tayle vnder them is white as the other part of the body.
it fed readily upon snayles & froggs, butt a toad being offered it would
not touch it: the tongue very short [not _crossed out_] an inch long. it
makes a clattering noyse by flapping one bill agaynst the other somewhat
like the platea or shouelard.[V] the quills [about _crossed out_] of the
biggnesse of swans bills [_sic_ quills?] when it swallowed a frogge it
was sent downe into the stomak by the back side of the neck as was
perceaued upon swallowing. I could not butt take notice of the conceitt
of some who looked upon it as an ill omen saying if storks come ouer
into England, pray god a co[=m]on wealth do not come after.
[V] The Spoonbill.
In addition to these letters there are in the Bodleian Library a
letter from Elizabeth Browne to her brother, describing the
above-mentioned Stork, and desiring him to keep one of the two
pictures himself, and to give the other to his sister Fairfax
(MS. Rawl. D. 108, fol. 71), and a draft of a letter from Sir
Thomas Browne about a remarkable fly (_see ante_ p. 68 _and Note
110_), which offended the cattle extraordinarily, found at
Horsey Marshes (MS. Rawl. D. 108, fol. 103). There is also (MS.
Rawl. D. 391, fol. 55) a letter from Sir Hamon le Strange to Sir
T. B., dated Jan. 16, 1653. About half this letter is printed by
Wilkin, i., pp. 369-70. He mentions towards the end that he
sends certain observations on T. B.'s "Enquiries into Common
Errors," at page "27 thereof I write of a whale cast upon my
shoare." This criticism is now separated from the letter, which
originally covered it, but happily is preserved in the British
Museum, MS. Sloane, 1839. fols. 104-145.
INDEX.
A.
Acorus verus, 58
Acus, Needlefish, 40, 41, 66
Adders, 55
Addercock, 66
Alcedo ispida, 21
Allis Shad, 42 (note)
Alni carptor, 76
Amber, 63, 88
Alosa, 42
Anas arctica, 17, 73
Anas macrolophos, 82, 88
Anas alis oculatis, 80
Anatula, 76, 79
Anglorum, Sand Eel, 44
Apiaster, 73
Aphia cobites, 42
Appendix A., 86
Appendix B., 90
Appendix C., 95
Appendix D., 96
Aquila Gesneri, 3, 67, 87
Ardea stellaris, 17
Arcuata, 23
Armed Bull-head, 41 (note), 62, 65, 87
Avicula Maialis, 19, 66
Ascidians, 50 (note)
Aselli, 43
Asprage, 45
Aspredo, 53, 83, 88
Astacus, 46, 57
Atherine?, 42 (note), 73
Auk, Little?, 79 (note)
Avis pugnax, 20
Avis trogloditica, 26
Avocet, 24, 67
B.
Balani, 48
Banstickle 44
Barbel, 53
Barker, 24, 67, 73, 76
Barnacle shell, 48
Barnacle Goose, 12
Bargander, 13, 73
Bass, 43
Bearded Tit, 26 (note)
Bee-bird, 73, 76
Betulæ Carptor, 29, 73, 76
Birdcatcher, 25
Birds found in Norfolk, 1
Birds number of species, 32
Bittern, 17
Black Grouse, 28
Black Heron, 21
Black-tailed Godwit, 24 (note)
Bleak, 43, 53, 78, 81
Bones, Fossil, 91
Boyle, Robert, 85
Bream, 52
Brent Goose, 12
Brill, Bret, 45
Brittle Stars, 49
Browne, Sir Thomas--
Attitude towards witchcraft, xi. (note)
Collection of Eggs, 10 (note)
Correspondents, viii.
Drawings lost, xxv.
Editions of his Collected Works, xviii.
Estimation in which he was held, xvii.
Letters to Merrett, xxii., 57
Letters to Dugdale, 91
Notes on Certain Birds, xx., 1
Notes on Certain Fishes, xx., 31
Observations on Migration, xvi., 2 (note)
Originality, xi., xvi.
Purpose for which written, xxi., 2
State of Natural Science in his day, x., xiv.
Bull-head, Armed, 41 (note), 62, 65, 87
Burbot, 54
Bustard, 18
Butcher bird, 25
Butt, 45
Buzzard, Bald, 4, 56
Buzzard, Gray, 4
C.
Canis (Dog-fish), 36
Canis carcharias, 37 (note), 61, 86
Caprimulgus, 26, 63, 66, 87
Cancellus, 48, 62
Carcinus mænas, 46
Carp, 55
Certhia, 80
Ceruna, 53, 88
Chad, 42
Chipper, 29, 73
Chock, 26
Chough, 27
Chub, 53
Churre, 19 (note), 20
Ciconia, 10, 64, 96
Cirripeds, 48
Clams, 47
Clangula, 83, 88
Coal-fish, 43
Coble bird, 25
Cockles, 47
Cods, 43
Conger, 44
Coot, 15
Corculum, 55, 56
Cormorant, 11
Cormorant, Rock, 11
Corallines, 80
Cotta Anglorum, 79, 81
Cottus scorpius, 42
Corvus marinus, 11
Crabs, 46
Crane, 5
Crawfish, 53
Crossbill, 25
Crow, 27
Crow, Hooded, 25
Cuckoo, 20
Cuckoo Mate, 22 (note)
Culex marinus, 99
Curlew, 23
Curlew, Stone, 24
Cuttle fish, 45, 62
Cyclas, 55 (note)
D.
Dab, 45 (note)
Dabchick, 13
Dace, 52
Dentalia, 47, 73, 77
Divers, 8 (note)
Dog-fish, 37
Dog-Whelk, 47 (note)
Dolphin, 34
Dorhawk, 26, 63, 66, 87
Dory, 41
Dotterel, Land, 19
Dotterel, Sea, 19, 73, 76, 80
Draco minor, 42 (note), 73
Dragon fly, 55 (note)
Draw Water, 28
Ducks, Wild, 13, 13 (note), 88
Duck, Golden-eye, 83
Duck, Tufted, 82
Dunlin, 19
E.
Eagles, 3, 67, 78, 87
Echinus, 48
Eels, 54
Eels, Conger, 44
Eels, Sand, 44
Eelpout, 54
Elke, 7, 78, 80, 83, 88
Erythropus, 19
F.
Faber marinus, 41
Fanago, 51, 74
Father Lasher, 42 (note)
Fen Cricket, 55 (note), 56
Fibula marina, 50, 61, 86
Finches, 29
Fishing Frog, 38, 64
Fishes found in Norfolk, 31
Fishes number of species, 32
Flat-fish, 45
Flies, 67, 71, 97
Fly-catcher, 73 (note), 76
Forficula, 55 (note), 56
Fucus marinus, 71, 75
Fulica Cotta, 14
Fungi, various, 60, 61, 86
Funduli fluviatiles, 54
Funduli marini, 42
G.
Gallinula aquatica, 15
Gannet, 7, 13
Gammarus, 53
Garfish, 40, 66
Garrulus Bohemicus, 68
Garrulus Argentoratensis, 30, 63, 67, 87
Geese, 12, 13
Gladius, 36, 64, 88
Glot, Eel, 54
Gnatts or Knots, 19
Goatsucker, 26, 63, 66, 87
Gobies, 42 (note)
Godwit, 19, 24
Gold-crested Wren, 29 (note), 76
Golden Eagle, 3 (note), 67
Golden-eye Duck, 84 (note), 88
Goldfinch, 29
Goosander, 13, 72, 83 (note)
Goodyer, John, 59
Grampus, 33, 92
Great Northern Diver, 8
Green Plover, 19 (note), 20
Grey Plover, 20
Grebe, G. Crested, 13
Grebe, Little, 13
Grouse, Black, 28
Gryllotalpa, 55 (note), 56
Gudgeon, 54
Guillemot, 84 (note), 88
Gulls, 8, 9, 10
Gurnards, 39
Gurney, Anna, xx.
H.
Haddock, 43
Hard-worm, 55, 56
Harriers, 4, 5 (note)
Hawfinch, 25
Hermit Crabs, 48
Herons, 17
Heron, Black, 22
Heron, Purple, 22 (note)
Heathpoult, 28
Herring, 39
Hippolyte varians, 53
Hirundo marina, Sea Swallow, 10
Hirudines marini, Sea Leeches, 50
Horse-leeches, 55 (note), 56
Horse Mackerel, 39
Hobby, 78
Hobby-bird, 22
Hoopoe, 23, 67
Hooded Crow, 26
How, Dr. William, 59 (note)
Hydrocantharus, 55 (note), 56
Hydrozoa, 70
J.
Jackdaw, 27
Jelly-fish, 50, 61, 78
Jet, 63 (note), 64, 85
Junco, 72
K.
Kingfisher, 22
Kite, 4, 15, 27
Knots, 19
L.
Lampern, 54
Lamprey, 54
Lanius, 25
Lapwing, 20
Lari, many sorts of, 8, 9
Larks, 28
Larus minor, 9, 73
Leeches, 50
Lesser Butcher Bird, 26 (note)
Letters to Dugdale, 91
Letters to Merrett, 57
Letters from Merrett, 86
Limpets, 47
Lingula, 45
Little Auk?, 79 (note)
Littorina, 47
Lizard, 55
Loach, 54
Lobster, 46
Lolego, 46, 62, 86
Loon, 13
Loxia, 25
Lug Worm, 50 (note)
Lump-fish, 39
Lupus marinus, 38, 61, 86
M.
Mackerel, 43, 74
Mackerel, Horse, 39
Marine Worms, 50
May-chit, 19, 63, 66, 87
Medusae, 49 (note)
Merganser, 13, 72
Mergus acutirostris, 13
Mergus cristatus, 82, 88
Mergus major, 8, 57
Mergus minor, 13
Mergus mustelaris, 77
Mergus serratus, 18, 83
Mergulus, 77, 79
Merlin, 78
Merrett, Christopher, xxii., 57
Mistletoe, 70
Migration, xvi., 2 (note)
Miller's Thumb, 54
Minnow, 53
Mole Cricket, 55 (note), 56
Moon-fish (Mola), 38, 64
Moor Hen, 15
Morinellus, 19, 73, 76, 80
Musca tuliparum, 67, 74
Mullet, 40, 65
Mullet, Red, 40, 62, 65, 87
Mussels, 47
Musk Beetle, 58
Mustela fluviatilis, 54
Mustela marina, 39
Mustela variegata, 14
N.
Needle-fish, 40 (note), 41, 66
Nerites, 47, 73, 77
Night-jar, 26, 63, 66, 87
Norway Lobster, 46 (note)
Notonacton, 55 (note), 56, 71
Nuthatch, 21
O.
Oak Galls, 69, 70, 75
Octopus?, 46 (note), 86
Oldenburg, Henry, 82
Onocrotalus, 16, 64
Ophidian, 65
Osprey, 4, 78
Otters, 56
Oysters, 46
Oyster Catcher, 8 (note)
P.
Parrot Jay, 30, 63, 67, 87
Partridge, 27
Partridge, Red-legged, 28
Pectines, 47
Pediculus marinus, 49
Pelican, 16, 64
Perch, 52
Periwinkle, 47, 55 (note), 56
Peter-fish, 41
Physalus, 49, 65
Pica marina, 8
Picus martius, 21
Pigs, Solid-footed, 77, 80, 81
Pike, 52
Pilchard, 44, 81
Pinax, 57, 87
Pintail Duck, 14, 77, 80
Piscis octangularis, 41, 62, 65, 87
Pisidium?, 55 (note)
Place, 45
Plot, Dr. Robert, xxiv. (note)
Plover, Green, 19 (note), 20
Plover, Grey, 20
Plover, Ring, 23
Pogge, 41 (note)
Polypus, 46, 86
Porbeagle, 57 (note), 61, 86
Porpoise, 34
Porci solidi pedes, 77, 80, 81
Primmes, 42, 73
Pristis serra, 36, 83, 88
Puets, 10
Puffin, 17, 73
Pungitius, 44, 58
Q.
Quail, 28
Quercus Galls, 69, 70
Quercus marinus, 75
Querquedula, 14, 83
R.
Rail, Land, 28
Rail, Water, 15, 79, 81
Rana piscatrix, 38, 64
Raven, 27
Rays, 45
Razor shells, 47
Red-backed Shrike, 25 (note)
Red-legged Partridge, 28
Red Mullet, 40, 62, 65, 87
Redshank, 19
Reed-chock, 72
Reseda, 59
Ringlestones, 23
Ring Plover, 23
Roach, 52
Rochet, 39
Rock Cormorant, 11
Rockling, 39 (note)
Roller, 30, 63, 67, 87
Roman Nettle, 59, 68
Rook, 27
Rudd, Roud, 52, 82
Ruff (fish), 53, 83, 88
Ruff (Reeve), 20
Rubelliones, 39
Rutilus, 82, 88
S.
Salmon, 51, 62, 87
Sand Eel, 44
Sanderling, 19 (note), 63, 66, 87
Saurus, 40, 66
Sawfish, 36, 83, 88
Sandpiper, Common, 79
Scad, 39
Scallop, 47
Scarabæus, 58
Scarburgh, Sir C., 3 (note)
Scolopax, 41
Scolopendra, 35
Scombri, 43, 74
Scorpius, 42, 67
Scotch Goose, 12
Sea Buttons, 50, 61
Sea Dotterel, 19, 73, 76, 80
Sea Dugge, 50 (note), 51
Sea Gudgeon, 42
Sea Leach, 50
Sea Loach, 42
Sea Louse, 49
Sea Miller's Thumb, 42
Sea Mouse, 49, 65
Sea Perriwig, 70
Sea Pheasant, 14, 77
Sea Pie, 8
Sea Stars, 49, 57
Sea Trout, 62, 86
Sea Wolf, 38, 61, 86
Sea Woodcock, 40
Seal, 35, 64
Seaweeds, 70
Sepia, 45, 86
Sesamoides, 59
Shad, 42 (note)
Shag, 11
Shagreen Ray, 45
Shearwater, 12, 72
Sheld-drake, 12 (note), 13, 73
Shoeing-horn, 24
Shore Crab, 46 (note)
Shovelard, 10
Shoveller Duck, 14
Shrike, 25
Shrimp, Freshwater, 55 (note)
Silerella, 26 (note)
Siskin, 29 (note), 73, 76
Skate, 45
Skipper (Saury), 40 (note)
Skua, 8, 58
Smelt, 42
Smew, 14, 77
Snakes, 55
Sole, 45
Solens, 47
Solid-footed Swine, 77, 80, 81
Sperm Whale, 32, 65, 75, 80, 91, 98
Spermologous, 27
Spoonbill, 10
Sported Flycatcher, 73, 76
Sported Ray, 45
Sprat, 43
Squalders, 49, 50 (note), 61
Squid, 45 (note)
Squllæ, 56
Starling, 28
Stella marina, 49, 57
Stern, 10, 73
Sting-fish, 42, 65
Sting Ray, 45
Stint, 19 (note), 20
Stickleback, 44 (note), 58
Stone Curlew, 24, 67
Stork, 10, 64, 96
Sturgeon, 37
Succinum, 63
Sun-fish, 38, 64
Surmullet, 40
Swan, Wild, 7, 78, 80, 83, 88
Sweet Flag, 57
Swift, 55
Sword Fish, 36, 64, 88
T.
Teal, 14, 83, 88
Tench, 52
Tenison, Archbishop, ix.
Terns, 10, 73
Tethya, 50 (note), 51
Thornback, 45
Tope, 37 (note)
Trachurus, 39, 58
Trout, 53
Trout, Sea, 66, 82
Tufted Duck, 82
Tunny?, 43 (note), 74
Turbines, 47
Turbot, 45
U.
Upupa, 23, 67
Urtica marina, 49, 61, 78, 86
Urtica mas, 68
Urtica pilulifera, 59 (note)
Urtica Romana, 59
V.
Vermes marinus, 50, 62, 66, 87
Vermes setacei, 56
Vesicaria, 50 (note), 51, 74, 79, 85, 89
Vipers, 55
Vitulus marinus, 35, 64
W.
Water Beetle, 55 (note), 56
Water Boatman, 55 (note), 56
Water Hen, 15
Water Rail, 15, 79, 81
Waxwing, 68
Weasel Cray, 84
Weasel ling, 39, 82, 88
Weever-fish, 42 (note), 65, 67
Wesell, 14, 77
Whale, Sperm, 32, 65, 75, 90, 91, 98
Wheatear, 26 (note)
Whelk, 47
White-tailed Eagle, 3
Whiting, 43
Whinne Bird, 29, 76
Wild Duck, 14
Wild Goose, 12, 13
Wild Swan, 7, 78, 80, 83, 88
Wilkin, Simon, xviii. (note)
Willick, 84, 88
Wolf-fish, 38, 61, 86
Woodcock (fish), 41
Woodpecker, 21
Wren, Dr. Christopher, xx.
Wren, Gold-crested, 29, 76
Wryneck, 22 (note)
X.
Xiphias, 36
Y.
Yarwhelp, 24, 73, 76
ERRATA.
Page 8, note 10, last line, _delete_ us.
Page 8, note, first line, after Great Northern Diver, insert
_Colymbus glacialis_; line three, _delete Colymbus glacialis_,
and after _Mergus maximus_ insert Farrensis.
Page 12, note 17, line 8, for "English Birds" read "English
words."
Page 12, note 18, line 4 from bottom, for "near the centre" read
"near the south-west border."
Page 14, note 22, line 9, after "(Hunt)" insert ";."
Page 20, note 31, line 5, transfer the words "for the last few
years" to line 4, after "has bred."
Page 23, note 36, line 3, for "Eringo" read "Eryngo."
Page 34, note 52, line 1, for "hat" read "that."
Page 35, note 54, line 5, for "Neridiform" read "Nereidiform."
Page 36, note 55, line 7, for _pristis antiquoram_ read _pristis
antiquorum_.
Page 46, note 82, line 1, for _Cancer_ read _Carsinus_
(corrected in Index).
Page 47, note 83, lines 9 and 19, for _litoria_, read
_littorea_.
Page 50, note 90, line 2 from bottom, after "and" insert
"which."
Page 53, note 93, line 5 from bottom, for _Pandalus varius_,
read _Hippolyte varians_ (corrected in Index).
_Jarrold & Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London._
Transcriber's Notes
Spelling and punctuation are retained as in the original.
Footnotes were kept as close to the referring paragraph as
practicable. They are essentially part of the text.
The errata section was moved to the end of the book and its changes
are entered.
The following words appear both with and without hyphens.
Bee-bird
Fly-catcher
fresh-water
Gar-fish
Goat-sucker
marsh-bird
Needle-fish
north-west
Saw-fish
sea-shoare
sea-shore
whole-footed
[=m] indicates a double m; e.g. co[=m]on.
[=u] indicates a letter u with macron above.
w^{ch} indicates multiple letters are superscripted.
y^r indicates a single superscripted letter.
Footnote 98
'Both Vipers (or Adders) and Snakes, the latter in particular,'
'latte ' included a following space, so made the assumption that
the word here is 'latter'.
Changed.
Page 13
'Mergus acutarostris cinereus'
'acutarostris' may be 'acutirostris' as used elsewhere.
Spelled as in original.
Page 39
'sprdding the finnes into a liuely posture do hang them'
'sprdding' is an odd spelling for spreading.
Spelled as in original.
Page 45
'with a long & strong aculeus in the tayle conceuud of'
'conceuud' is an odd spelling.
Unchanged.
Page 76
'A yarewhelp or barker [some words smeared out]'
Closing bracket added.
Page 91
'came out of his nostrells. thus much ffrom him who doth'
'ffrom' matches original.
Double 'ff' occurs several places in the book.
Page 93
'or Joannes Goropius (as the name is variously given in the
"Biographie Universelle" (b. 1518, d. 1572),'
Missing closed parenthesis.
Unchanged.
Index 'Notonacton'
'Notonacton'
Refers to 'Notonecton' in all cases.
Unchanged.
Index 'Porbeagle'
'Porbeagle'
'57' may be a typo for '37'
Porbeagle is also known as 'Canis carcharius alius' or 'canis
charcharius alius Jonst.' or 'Lamna cornubica'.
Unchanged.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes and Letters on the Natural
History of Norfolk, by Thomas Browne
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATURAL HISTORY OF NORFOLK ***
***** This file should be named 35888-8.txt or 35888-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/8/8/35888/
Produced by Charlene Taylor, Leonard Johnson and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
https://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
