THE COVERTS 271 



was the Crown grantee of Alice Holt Forest, turned 

 out some wild boars and a few buffalo to boot, when 

 the countryfolk rose upon them and destroyed them. 

 The Chillingham wild cattle still perpetuate the fierce 

 breed of ancient Caledonia, so dramatically commemo- 

 rated in the " Bride of Lammermoor " and the ballad 

 of " Cadyow Castle." They are ugly customers at the 

 best, and not to be lightly approached, of which we 

 once had personal experience when stalking them from 

 motives of curiosity. But there seems to be no reason 

 why covert shooting should not be varied by turning 

 out some of the sporting birds we have only half 

 domesticated. The turkey and the guinea-fowl retain 

 so much of their wild nature that they will always for 

 choice stray far from the farmsteading to make their 

 nests in the roots of a hedge or in some impenetrable 

 patch of bramble. The hens are reported missing, and 

 the disappearance is credited to the foxes, till they turn 

 up again some fine morning with the chicks trooping 

 at their heels. His Majesty George II. was as partial 

 to turkey shooting as any West American pot-hunter. 

 In his time there were flocks of turkeys in Richmond 

 Park, which are said seldom to have numbered fewer 

 than two thousand. They fattened on the acorns and 

 beechmast ; they were fed besides from stacks of barley, 

 and the cocks often grew to thirty pounds' weight. 

 There were wild turkeys in Wynnstay Park, we 

 believe, so late as the middle of the present century, 

 and likewise at Lord Ducie's seat in Gloucestershire. 

 At the same time peafowl and guinea-fowl had been 



