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Hawking and the consumption of wildfowl were unquestionably a mark of nobility in later medieval England, and, as such, the archaeological representation of wild birds has come to be viewed as a signature of medieval elite settlement. Like all fashions, however, the social significance of wildfowling and the consumption of different game birds changed through, time. Historical evidence does not record clearly when these activities acquired their high-status associations and in the absence of such knowledge it is unwise to assume that wild bird exploitation was always a trait of the medieval elite's lifestyle. This paper sets out to explore how the meaning of wildfowl procurement and consumption changed between the mid-fifth and mid-sixteenth century, and also to examine how perceptions of individual wild species shifted through time. It is argued here that only when we understand the history of their 'social life' can we begin to label particular activities or consumables as high status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]