81 



The Car being a Common, the villagers round about kept their 

 Geese on it, and they were constantly looking after them, and 

 many of the freeholders had quantities of stock also. It was 

 thus much disturbed and was very much liable to trespass in 

 other ways. Tramps came to cut heather for brooms, they da- 

 maged the fences and young trees for shanks, numbers of idle 

 people went on Sundays and often set fire to the whins, and at 

 last it was considered desirable to have this prolific naturalist's 

 hunting ground done away with. The Lord of the Manor claimed 

 the shooting: he, living at some distance, gave the deputation 

 to Mr. Bell of Woolsington, a great friend of Mr. William Brand- 

 ling's, and in consequence the latter had leave to do pretty much 

 as he liked ; he being very fond of shooting, frequently used to 

 take me with him. 



Mr. Lambert at that time had the adjoining shooting to the 

 north, and he also very frequently kindly took me with him when 

 he went to shoot. The river Pont, which when it overflowed 

 formed the Car, ran for several miles through his shooting grounds, 

 and a most prolific place for Ducks it sometimes was. The first 

 night of the Car being frozen over and a slight covering of snow 

 made many Ducks take the river, which was in many places over- 

 hung with bushes, and a walk in early morning was frequently 

 worth taking, five or six couple being sometimes obtained on such 

 an occasion. Some miles lower down the river it also flooded some 

 land and formed another lake which was surrounded by trees 

 and bushes, and was strictly preserved. This formed a most va- 

 luable resting place for the fowl when driven off or disturbed 

 much at the Car. The late owner of this sometimes also most 

 kindly asked me to shoot at it, and the show of wild fowl there 

 was often surprising. This retreat would have been a splendid 

 place for a decoy ; the late owner long since told me he had had 

 applications to have it turned into one, but he preferred having 

 his Ducks there at that time as they were. Since the Car was 

 drained the great body of the wild fowl have ceased to come into 

 the district. I had numerous opportunities of observing the many 

 sorts of birds frequenting the Car, and my collection of wading 



