SANCTUARIES /-VA' ll'ILD IURDS 239 



part of the coast. Even the neighbourhood of salt 

 water is not indispensable ; there is one decoy work- 

 ing in the central Midlands. But the sites for the 

 future establishment of sanctuaries for wild animals 

 as well as for wild birds are to be found in the 

 national forests. At the beginning of the next reign 

 the terms on which these are held by the State will 

 once more be arranged with the Crown. The 

 ' sporting rights ' should be secured, and their 

 administration placed in the hands of practical 

 naturalists. In Woolmer Forest there is a pool and 

 marsh, in which the wild fowl are now shot annually 

 by the officers of the Royal Engineers at Aldershot 

 (the forest being leased to the War Office), which 

 seems designed by Nature as the site of the first 

 national experiment in this direction. 



