INTRODUCTION. 



In ALBION'S isle when glorious EDGAR reigned 



* «= # -^ * 

 CAMBRIA'S proud Kings (tho' with reluctance) paid 

 Their tributary wolves ; head after head, 



In full account, till the woods yield no more, 

 And all the rav'nous race extinct is lost. 



# # # ^ * 

 But yet, alas ! the wily fox remained, 



A subtle pilfering foe, prowling around 

 In midnight shade, and wakeful to destroy. 



— SoMERViLE ("The Chace"). 



What a pity it is that the wild animals of our 

 islands are so quickly disappearing, those, I 

 mean, which do really very little harm, and 

 which might well be spared to form a con- 

 necting Hnk between the present and the past ; 

 the great extent to which the preservation of 

 game is carried on nowadays and, alas ! the ever 

 increasing curtailment of those wild and unfre- 

 quented districts where they formerly lived in 

 comparative security are slowly, but surely, 

 wiping them out. 



