Quotation from: Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period

Written by: Paul Lacroix

Game.--Our forefathers included among the birds which now constitute
feathered game the heron, the crane, the crow, the swan, the stork, the
cormorant, and the bittern. These supplied the best tables, especially the
first three, which were looked upon as exquisite food, fit even for
royalty, and were reckoned as thorough French delicacies. There were at
that time heronries, as at a later period there were pheasantries. People
also ate birds of prey, and only rejected those which fed on carrion.