THE NEW FOREST. 63 



curing the wild boar and his mate from the forests of 

 Germany, which once certainly inhabited the forests of 

 England. I have heard that they propagated greatly in 

 New Forest ; certain it is there is found in it at this day 

 a breed of hogs, commonly called forest hogs, which are 

 very different from the usual Hampshire breed, which 

 have about them several of the characteristics of the 

 wild boar." 



To the lover of birds, whether as a sportsman or a 

 naturalist, the New Forest is a district of great interest : 

 for, in consequence of the diversity in the surface and 

 the vegetation, the note of every bird may be heard, from 

 the piteous note of the twite the appropriate bird of 

 desolation to the murmuring of the ring-dove, * in 

 shadiest covert hid.' The moorland places are not 

 sufficiently elevated for any of the species of grouse, 

 but the whistle of the plover greets one immediately 

 after quitting the lonely habitation of the twite ; and 

 then, as one approaches the mossy bottom, of which there 

 are several in the forest, the lapwing alternately tumbles 

 along the earth and twitches through the air, to decoy 

 the passenger from the habitation of its young. Some of 

 these birds, which are migrant in other parts of Britain, 

 are resident summer and winter within the natural district 

 of the New Forest. 



The winter visitants, the survivors of all dimensions and 

 from all parts of the northern regions, are also plentiful, 

 when the winter seals up the waters, and drives them 

 from their native north. Some species which are rare 

 even in Scotland are found more plentifully here. 



By an Act of Parliament, passed in 1857, the right of 

 the Crown to keep deer in the New Forest was extin- 

 guished, and compensation in lieu thereof was given. 

 But more important than the forest pastoral industry, 

 so pleasingly described by Gilpin, and more important 

 than the maintenance of game, is the production of timber. 



