256 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



the reign of Edward II., the season was fixed to embrace 

 the period between Christmas Day and Candlemas Day. We 

 learn, moreover, from the testimony of William of Malmesbury, 

 that in the time of Edward the Confessor the forest of Bern- 

 wood, in Buckinghamshire, was infested by a notable Wild 

 Boar, which was eventually killed by the King's huntsman, and 

 its head presented to His Majesty. So delighted was the 

 Sovereign with this exploit, that he presented a tract of land 

 to his faithful henchman, who built upon it a mansion which 

 he appropriately christened Bore-Stall. 



At the Conquest, Inglewood Forest, in the Border Country, 

 was stated to contain Red and Fallow Deer, Wild Boars, and 

 other beasts; and the Rev. H. A. Macpherson quotes a passage 

 from the pipe-rolls of Henry IL, which seems to indicate that 

 Wild Swine existed there as late as his reign. Again, the forest- 

 laws of William the Conqueror refer to the Wild Boar as being 

 as well known as the Red Deer and the Roe; and it is stated that 

 Henry I. was especially fond of Boar-hunting, while Edward I. 

 made several grants of land held by the serjeanty of providing 

 Boar-hounds. Between the years 11 53 and 1 165 we find Robert 

 de Avenel, when granting to the monks of Melrose Abbey the 

 right of pasturage over the lands of Eskdale, especially reserving 

 to himself the right of hunting Wild Boar and Deer ; and there 

 is actual evidence of a Boar-hunt taking place at this very time 

 in the same district. 



Among the animals inhabiting the great forest around London 

 mentioned byFitzStephen in 1 174, we find the Wild Boar occupy- 

 ing a prominent place ; and from the fact that certain land in 

 Oxfordshire was held on condition of furnishing the King with 

 Boar-spears on the occasions of his visits, it may be inferred that 

 Edward III. was in the habit of pursuing the Wild Boar in that 

 county ; this would be about the year 1340. Certain other docu- 

 ments refer to Wild Boars in the year 1573, and twenty years later 



