Mr. J. E. Harting on Forest Animals. 75 



succession of a different fauna ; or I might tell you some- 

 thing of those submerged forests the remains of which, 

 upon some parts of our coast, are from time to time dis- 

 closed as the tide recedes, bringing to light the horns and 

 skulls of animals — as the red-deer and roe-deer — which, 

 though formerly overrunning a great part of our island, 

 have (except in one or two localities) long been banished 

 from the southern and midland portions of it. 



But my object on this occasion is to deal not with 

 the past, but with the present; to bring to your notice 

 some of the characteristic creatures which may be seen in 

 an EngHsh forest, not all in one day perhaps, but from 

 time to time in the course of one's excursions. I propose 

 to tell you something of their appearance and habits, and 

 to answer, if I may, some of the various questions which I 

 am accustomed to hear asked concerning some of the less 

 common or little-observed animals. 



On proceeding to take a survey of the denizens of a 

 forest, the larger animals, from their size, naturally 

 attract our attention, and we may therefore deal with them 

 first. As it will be necessary, for the sake of clearness, to 

 take them in some kind of order, let me pause for a 

 moment to explain the meaning of the names which have 

 been bestowed on the various groups into which it is con- 

 venient to divide them. 



We have first the Buminants — animals which ruminate, 

 or chew the cud. They are mostly horned, although there 

 are a few, in other countries, which are not. They are 

 characterized by the absence of incisors, or cutting teeth, 

 in the upper jaw. Instead of these, they have merely a 

 callous pad, against which the cutting teeth in the lower 

 jaw press, and so cut up the food in the same way as meat 

 is cut up by means of a chopper and block. 



In order to go through the process of ruminating, they 

 possess a specially formed stomach, or rather a series of 

 stomachs, through which the food passes in turn before it 

 becomes finally digested. It would be easy to explain to 

 you by means of a diagram the exact process which is gone 

 through by a ruminating animal every time it chews the 



c 



