Weathercocks in the Kentish trees

On Lady Day 1672 John Evelyn rode back from the Kent coast through the best farmed country he had ever seen, the fields as level as a bowling green. He noticed a weathercock on the top bough of almost every tall tree, and some trees with half a dozen. He was told that on a certain holiday the farmers feasted their servants and set up the cocks as a kind of triumph. Hone printed the passage under Lady Day in the Year Book.