viii PREFACE 



the ancient meadows and Hampshire streams, are not 

 wild in the sense of being removed from the homes of 

 men, but convenience, or a sense of propriety, has 

 kept them as they were. Most of these conditions are 

 likely to last. But the " pine and heather country/' 

 and that round the lovely " Surrey ponds," will before 

 long be in the hands of the builder, from the Bay of 

 Bournemouth to Ascot Heath. It is worth while 

 remembering that in this district Wolmer Forest is 

 still Crown property, and might, if the New Forest Acts 

 were extended to it, be preserved for ever " open and 

 wild." Swinley Forest, and other royal forests in the 

 south, might be similarly retained as " reserves " or 

 natural parks, and the finest sea-cliffs which have no 

 commercial value might be purchased and included in 

 the protected area. 



The greater number of the papers included in this 

 book appeared in their first form in The Spectator, to 

 the editors of which paper the author owes his best 

 thanks for their encouragement, and also for permission 

 to print them in their present extended form. Other 

 chapters have been added, and many of the original 

 papers re-written in greater detail. They are now 

 presented in their natural order, grouped together as 



