44 A MEMENTO OF HAlXArLT FOREST. 



had come there for a country walkj and the only animals^ besides pigs and 

 cows, that I met, were now and then a stoat as he crossed my path; or the 

 water rat twisting himself in and out among the roots of the trees along the 

 sides of the ponds, or else as I watched him swim from one side of the pond 

 to the other. 



This was my first excursion to that delightful Forest, but I have often 

 been there since; and have there, towards the evening at dusk, watched the 

 stag beetle, or the buzzing cockchafFer flying through the air, or the Owl 

 stealing along on its noiseless pinions, waiting to make its supper on some un- 

 wary mouse; or else from the parlour of the small country inn — the May 

 Pole, near Chigwell Eow, (where I used to refresh myself after my walk,) 

 observe, on a beautiful summer's evening, the Swallow skimming the pond in 

 front of the inn; sometimes darting high in the air, whilst at others splashing 

 the water with its wings, as it seemed to take no notice of the bystanders: 

 and who would have had the heart to destroy it, if they knew that, perhaps in 

 the out-houses around the inn, a young brood was crying for the food it was so 

 laboriously obtaining? I have seen a good many different kinds of birds in 

 the Forest, and I have no doubt but that most of our common birds, from 

 the Eobin — 



"The bird, who by some name or other, 

 All men who know thee call thee brother," 



and Wren, to that small, yet powerful bird the Kestrel are to be found 

 there, for it not only possesses trees, pollards, shrubs, and brambles, but both 

 marshy and very dry ground, besides which there are, at least, one or two 

 streams running through it. 



I dare say I am one of many, who cannot afford to give too much time 

 to the study of nature; and I ask, if Hainault Forest is to be inclosed, and 

 the trees cut down, where is the Londoner, who has a little spare time, and 

 does not wish to stay in-doors all day, to go? Is he to go to Hyde Park 

 and watch the dirty London Sparrows scratch over the Horse's dung in Eotten 

 Row; or is he to go to Kensington Gardens and hunt a whole day to see a 

 Chaffinch or Robin, or should he be very fortunate, he might perchance see 

 a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker once or twice a year? Or perhaps the Com- 

 missioners might say, he can go to the Court Yard of Somerset House and 

 watch the Pigeons feeding; or he can take a walk to Highgate; (not knowing 

 perhaps, that should he move out of the turnpike road, he would, in most 

 places, be taken up for trespassing.) Besides, what is it that makes our 

 country look so pretty? Is it not our hills and dales, our fine trees, parks, and 

 forests; and do we not all know how wretched and barren a country without 

 trees looks; and who knows but that some day, with such unmerciful 

 Commissioners, it may come to that. No, let it never be said, that the 

 Commissioners of the Woods and Forests, of such a great Nation as ours, 

 were so mean, in the year 1852, as to deprive the people of a healthy and 



