EPPING FOREST. 



ITS ANIMALS. 



' ' The heath-stalker, the strong-horned stag — seeks shelter 

 in the wood." — Song of Beozoulf. 



"The mole has made his run, 

 The hedgehog underneath the plantain bores, 

 The rabbit fondles his own harmless face, 

 The slow-worm creeps, and the thin weasel there 

 Follows the mouse, and all is open field." 



Aylmei^s Field. 



We learn from an old writer that the beasts of the 

 chase " were commonlie the bucke [fallow], the 

 roe, the fox, and the marterne. But those of 

 venerie in old time were the hart [red deer], the 

 hare, the bore and woolfe ; but as this held not 

 in the time of Canutus, so insteed of the woolfe 

 the beare is now crept in, which is a beast com- 

 monlie hunted in the east countries, and fed upon 

 as excellent venison, although with us I know not 

 anie that feed thereon or care for it at all." 

 Though some of the animals here mentioned have 

 disappeared from these realms, there is^ still pro- 

 lific wild life in these thickets which lends them 

 an additional attraction. We owe the preservation 

 of the Forest itself to the fact that it was formerly 

 kept for the free range of beasts of chase, and 



