Heron. Ancient Epicure
"Roste him and sause him as be Crane; breke awey the bone from the kne to the fote, and lete the skyn be on . . . his sauce is to be mynced with pouder of gynger, vynegre, & Mustard". (14thC recipe)
During the nineteenth century, especially around the 1850s the heron was supposedly becoming fairly rare, on the assumption of there being fewer birds than previous times.
During the 1850s, herons had a preference to nest in solitude rather than assemble in large & sometimes ancient heronries which were regarded as a spectacle of considerable interest at that time. The assumed rarity was probably because they were more spread out in their habitat, roosting singularly or in small numbers rather than the dozen & more birds seen together as in previous times.
According to the price of wildfowl during the early 1300s, the cost of a heron was sixteen pennies a bird. An egret (young or 'dwarf' heron ) was bought for eighteen pennies (18d), the highest price for any wildfowl in those days. In "Liber Albus Gildhallae", introd, p. xxxiij, mallard & teal sold for 3d a bird, so you can see how highly prized heron were as a table fowl. Herons, as a dining table fowl was so highly esteemed that since the early 1300s the price had always reflected it's culinary estimation.
In centuries past, the noblest prize for the falconer was the heron & the art of taking them around the heronry was considered a noble sport, which was conducted around mid-day when the birds had gorged themselves with fish, preventing them flying so artfully as when they were in a sharp condition. The falcon made it's strike from above, as the herneshaw (full grown heron), when taken, could aerial acrabat & turn on it's back causing damage to the falcon with a single blow using it's strong bill as a weapon.
"As when a cast of faulcons make their flight
At an herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing,
The whiles they strike at him with heedlesse might
The wary foule his bill doth backward wring"
(Spencer's "Faerie Queene")
In India, it was customary, when the heron and hawk had grounded, to quickly reach the pair & push the heron's bill into the ground, so out of harms way.
"Roste him and sause him as be Crane; breke awey the bone from the kne to the fote, and lete the skyn be on . . . his sauce is to be mynced with pouder of gynger, vynegre, & Mustard". (14thC recipe)
During the nineteenth century, especially around the 1850s the heron was supposedly becoming fairly rare, on the assumption of there being fewer birds than previous times.
During the 1850s, herons had a preference to nest in solitude rather than assemble in large & sometimes ancient heronries which were regarded as a spectacle of considerable interest at that time. The assumed rarity was probably because they were more spread out in their habitat, roosting singularly or in small numbers rather than the dozen & more birds seen together as in previous times.
According to the price of wildfowl during the early 1300s, the cost of a heron was sixteen pennies a bird. An egret (young or 'dwarf' heron ) was bought for eighteen pennies (18d), the highest price for any wildfowl in those days. In "Liber Albus Gildhallae", introd, p. xxxiij, mallard & teal sold for 3d a bird, so you can see how highly prized heron were as a table fowl. Herons, as a dining table fowl was so highly esteemed that since the early 1300s the price had always reflected it's culinary estimation.
In centuries past, the noblest prize for the falconer was the heron & the art of taking them around the heronry was considered a noble sport, which was conducted around mid-day when the birds had gorged themselves with fish, preventing them flying so artfully as when they were in a sharp condition. The falcon made it's strike from above, as the herneshaw (full grown heron), when taken, could aerial acrabat & turn on it's back causing damage to the falcon with a single blow using it's strong bill as a weapon.
"As when a cast of faulcons make their flight
At an herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing,
The whiles they strike at him with heedlesse might
The wary foule his bill doth backward wring"
(Spencer's "Faerie Queene")
In India, it was customary, when the heron and hawk had grounded, to quickly reach the pair & push the heron's bill into the ground, so out of harms way.
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