MAMMALS 



As there is almost no other way of collecting bats, unless their sleep- 

 ing place is found by accident, information as to the presence or absence 

 of a particular species in a given district is hard to be obtained. Recently 

 Mr. J. G. Millais has given special attention to the bats, and has had 

 the advantage of learning much as to the presence of different species in 

 a cave of the chalk on Mr. Heatley Noble's property at Park place. 

 Speaking generally, the fact that a bat has not been noticed or re- 

 corded at any particular place, or that it has only been recorded once 

 or twice, is no guarantee that the creature is not found there, or that it 

 is very rare. It may only mean that no naturalist who has specialized in 

 observing bats has seen it. Very great numbers of bats of various kinds 

 feed above the waters of the Thames in summer when insects abound. 



The ancient forests of Berkshire were formerly the home of an 

 extensive fauna, and the remains of a great variety of animals have been 

 disclosed. Most of these have become extinct, but the wild boar (Sus 

 scrofa ferox) has been hunted in comparatively recent times. 



James I. wished to revive the sport of hunting the boar, and turned 

 out * six wild pigs.' Wild boars brought from India were kept in 

 semi-confinement in Windsor Home Park until the year of the accession 

 of King Edward VII. 



Foxes abound in all parts of the shire, being carefully preserved 

 for the purposes of hunting. Indeed their number is yearly increased 

 by importation from Scotland and Germany. Badgers are by no means 

 uncommon, and have their uses. When some imported foxes in Mr. 

 Garth's country developed mange which spread rapidly and infected the 

 earths, the master after destroying the mangy foxes procured some 

 badgers which effectually cleaned out the earths and removed the 

 disease. 



Three kinds of deer abounded in Berkshire : the red deer (Cervus 

 elaphus], fallow deer (Cervus dama), and the roe deer (Cervus capreolus), 

 but the old deer have long since vanished from the forest district. 

 The old stock was nearly all destroyed during the Commonwealth 

 period by poachers civil and military. Every inhabitant of the forest 

 made free with them. On one occasion 100 were slaughtered, and it 

 was reported after a survey in 1 649 that ' in the said park there is noe 

 deare.' After the Restoration the forest was restocked, and 1,000 

 was paid on account to Sir William St. Ravy for expenses of transporting 

 red and fallow deer from Germany and elsewhere. Queen Anne also 



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