WOLMER FOREST GAME. 27 



shown pieces of fossil-wood, of a paler colour, and 

 softer nature, which the inhabitants called fir; but, 

 upon a nice examination, and trial by fire, I could 

 discover nothing resinous in them : and, therefore, 

 rather suppose that they were parts of a willow or 

 alder, or some such aquatic tree.* 



This lonely domain is a very agreeable haunt for 

 many sorts of wild fowls, which not only frequent 

 it in the winter, but breed there in the summer; 

 such as lapwings, snipes, wild-ducks, and, as I have 

 discovered within these few years, teals. Partridges 

 in vast plenty are bred in good seasons on the verge 

 of this forest, into which they love to make excur- 

 sions ; and in particular, in the dry summer of 1740 

 and 1741, and some years after, they swarmed to 

 such a degree, that parties of unreasonable sports- 

 men killed twenty and sometimes thirty brace in a 

 day. 



But there was a nobler species of game in this 

 forest, now extinct, which I have heard old people 

 say abounded much before shooting flying became 

 so common, and that was the heath-cock, or black 

 game. When I was a little boy, I recollect one 



p. 360. Quere, Might not such observations be reduced to 

 domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old obliterated 

 drains and wells about houses ; and, in Roman stations and 

 camps, lead to the finding of pavements, baths, and graves, 

 and other hidden relics of curious antiquity ? 



* The remains of trees are found in most of the marshes 

 in Great Britain; but the mosses in the north of England, 

 and all those of Scotland, contain trees often of immense size. 

 These are generally oak, birch, different willows, or alder, and 

 the Scotch fir, pinus sylvestris. Being imbedded to considerable 

 depths, they are sometimes in a perfect state, and completely 

 saturated with the soil in which they lie. In the Highlands, the 

 Scotch fir abounds, and retains so much resin as to be used for 

 lights during winter, for which purpose it is dug out, dried, and 

 split into narrow lengths. W. J. 



