98 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ledge of this interesting district, I have strung to- 

 gether a few notes from my own observations on the 

 fauna and flora during a residence of three years in 

 the heart of the forest ; they may be suggestive, and 

 if they possess any merit, it is that of accuracy. But 

 it is necessary for me to state in limine, that I have 

 had nothing to do with a large portion of the forest 

 proper ; my observations have been confined to an 

 area about a dozen miles square, that is to say, from 

 Beaulieu and Marchwood to the Avon, and from 

 Stoney Cross to the sea, and even this is rather out- 

 side the mark, for the north-western section I have 

 scarcely even walked through. 



Among the mammalia, feres natures, which inhabit 

 the forest, the most worthy of consideration is the 

 deer. A quarter of a century ago they were very 

 numerous, and old inhabitants speak of it as then an 

 ordinary thing to see a dozen or more wild deer in a 

 walk from Brockenhurst to Lyndhurst, but about 

 twenty years ago they were nearly all killed off 

 owing to the injury they caused to the young trees. 

 Now they are seldom seen, and thrice only have I 

 come upon them in their native haunts. Foxes are 

 more plentiful, but it is more usual to see sly Reynard 

 with a pack of yelping hounds at his heels than to 

 catch him A sang froid. An animal which is now 

 almost extinct in the forest is the badger. I once got 

 within sight of a singular beast which puzzled me 

 extremely, he was neither a dog nor a cat, that was 

 evident ; but I could not get a clear view of him on 

 account both of his distance and of the thick furze 

 and heather which intervened. But away I went in 

 hot pursuit : when he ran I ran, and when he stopped 

 to look round, as he often did, I stood still ; however 

 I made but little advance on him, perhaps rather the 

 reverse, when suddenly the animal disappeared and 

 refused to show himself again. Some time afterwards, 

 on describing this creature and its movements as well 

 as the locality to a gamekeeper, the man said : " Oh 

 it was a badger, there's no doubt — but they are very 

 rare." Otters also are not often heard of, but their 

 excreta may occasionally be met with near streams. 

 A year or two ago a pair of old ones and two whelps 

 were found in the forest by a woodman, and he, 

 hoping to secure at least the young ones alive, 

 hastened off for assistance, but on his return they 

 were gone, and no one could discover their where- 

 abouts. Squirrels of course abound, and so do 

 moles ; stoats and weasels are seldom seen alive, but a 

 " keeper's tree " always shows a goodly number. One 

 of the most amusing scenes I ever witnessed was a 

 kind of serio-comic race between a stoat and a 

 rabbit. The latter might easily have got clear away 

 from his pursuer, but he evidently preferred running 

 round and round within a dozen paces of where I 

 stood and eventually succeeded in fairly tiring out the 

 stoat. What surprised me was the utter absence of 

 any sign of fear on the part of the rabbit— and while 

 the stoat displayed the most bloodthirsty determina- 



tion and savage ferocity, the other, it was clear, treated 

 the whole affair as altogether a capital bit of fun, and 

 seemed particularly pleased to find that a featherless 

 biped was present to witness the humiliating defeat 

 of his mortal foe. 



At least three species of bats inhabit the forest : 

 the Noctule, or Great Bat ( Vesp. noctula), the Long- 

 eared Bat (Plecotus auritus), and the Pipistrelle ( Vesp. 

 pipistrellus). Of the second I have seen but one 

 example sufficiently near to identify it with certainty. 

 Gilbert White, who gave the name Vespertilio 

 altivolans to the noctule, says, "The little bat 

 appears almost every month in the year, but I have 

 never seen the large ones till the end of April." In 

 this neighbourhood, where they are more numerous 

 than at Selborne a century ago, I have seen the 

 Great Bat on the wing on April 6th, and once as 

 early as the i Sth of March. 



That the bite of the adder [Pelias berus) is under 

 certain circumstances fatal is probably true enough, 

 though I know of no well-authenticated record of a 

 thoroughly healthy person dying from its direct 

 effects. But one thing is beyond question — its bite 

 has very unpleasant results, sometimes even necessi- 

 tating the amputation of the limb. A man here was 

 bitten in the hand and lost the use of his arm for four 

 months. Adders are found in these parts in consider- 

 able numbers, and in hot weather it is very imprudent 

 to ramble about in the woods without wearing 

 gaiters, or, failing these, the best thing is to tie the 

 trousers tightly around the ankle ; the danger being 

 less of a bite through the trousers, than that the 

 reptile in its fright may take refuge inside them, an 

 occurrence which once happened to a forest keeper I 

 know, and this so terrified him, though he shook off 

 the brute and escaped unharmed, that he never goes 

 into the wood now without having his understandings 

 encased in stout leather. The dread of all creeping 

 things extends here to the pretty little brown lizard 

 and the slow worm, both of which are invariably cut 

 to pieces as mortally dangerous vermin. A bright 

 reddish-purple variety of the latter known as the 

 "red adder" is regarded with the utmost terror, 

 because it is supposed to be more venomous than 

 the viper itself. 



One or two words as to the birds. As might be 

 expected their number both of species and individuals 

 is large ; a good list is given in Mr. Wise's book of 

 the New Forest, enumerating no less than 230 out of 

 354 recognised British species. I am told that at 

 present there is but a single pair of honey buzzards in 

 the forest, and their eggs are so greedily sought after 

 that there is but scant chance of the number in- 

 creasing, except when they happen to build where the 

 nest may be effectually protected, as was the case 

 two years ago, when the honey buzzards built in a tall 

 tree on a gentleman's estate, and the proprietor, with 

 rare good sense, ordered his keepers to watch the 

 nest day and night, and gave them strict injunctions 



