A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



of persecution and want of protection, the 

 results of the Ground Game Act. 



12. Rabbit. Ltpus cuniculus, Linn. 

 Much too abundant everywhere. 



UNGULATA 



1. Red Deer. Cervus elaphus, Linn. 



Mr. J. E. Harting quotes (Essex Nat. i. 

 55) from a manuscript note by Gary himself 

 in a copy of Gary's Survey of the Country 

 fifteen miles round London, 1786 (owned by 

 Mr. B. S. Cole), the statement that the 

 Crown had an unlimited right to keep deer 

 in Epping Forest, of which, duringCary's time, 

 and also when Norden wrote his Description 

 of Essex, 1594 (ed. 1840, p. 9), there was a 

 goodly stock both of red and fallow deer. 



About 1827, according to Mr. J. E. 

 Harting (Trans. Essex Field Club, i. 79), 

 the last red deer were removed from Epping 

 Forest to Windsor. Until that date this 

 species had continuously from the earliest 

 times been a resident in a wild condition in 

 this county, as the various mention of red 

 deer in the Forest records attest. It is stated 

 (Fisher's Forest of Essex, 1887, p. 220) that 

 an effort had been made a few years previously 

 to restore red deer to the Forest by bringing 

 back some from Windsor. The experiment, 

 however, was not very successful, and so many 

 complaints were made of the damage they 

 caused that it was considered desirable to 

 remove them, and orders were given for them 

 to be destroyed. It is said (Zoologist, 1888, p. 

 74) that some still exist in the Forest, but 

 whether there are any remaining or not the 

 species may with justice be added to the list, 

 for, with the exception of perhaps fifty years 

 of the last century, the Forest has never been 

 without wild red deer. Professor Flower 

 records (Zoologist, 1887, p. 344) the existence 

 of a small herd in Takeley Forest near Hat- 

 field Broad Oak, the progeny of a single 

 hind lost by the hounds during a chase. 



2. Fallow Deer. Cervus dama, Linn. 



This animal is probably an introduction 

 into Britain, but as it has been many cen- 

 turies truly feral in Epping Forest, we may 

 fairly claim it as an Essex animal. Although 

 fossil or semi-fossil remains of the red and 

 roe deer are not infrequently discovered, none 

 of the fallow deer have yet come to light. 



The judicial decision which fortunately 



placed Epping Forest under the charge of 

 the Corporation of London came just in 

 time to save the remnant of the Epping 

 fallow deer, as in 1870 the stock of the 

 Forest had dwindled down to only five or 

 six brace of deer and one buck (Fisher's 

 Forest of Essex, p. 221 ; the Field, August 

 5, 1876, p. 156; and Zoologist, 1888, p. 

 74)- 



Mr. J. E. Harting says (Essex Nat. i. 46) : 

 ' The fallow deer have held their own in 

 spite of all difficulties until the present time, 

 and have strangely preserved their ancient 

 character in regard to size and colour. They 

 are comparatively small in size, of a uniform 

 dark brown, almost black colour, in which 

 respect they vary from herds in other parts 

 of the country, and with very attenuated 

 antlers ' characters which he considers show 

 by their persistency the probable antiquity of 

 the stock. 



There are now at least 200 fallow deer 

 in Epping Forest, all apparently with the 

 same characteristics as above described. 



3. Roe Deer. Capreolus capreolus, Linn. 

 Bell Capreolus caprea. 



Mr. Harting shows (Essex Nat. i. 58) con- 

 clusively from charters, court rolls, and other 

 satisfactory proofs, some of them geological, 

 that the roe was formerly an inhabitant of 

 Essex. It disappeared from the forest of 

 Essex apparently before Norden wrote his 

 Description of Essex in 1594. 



Mr. Harting also details the active part he 

 took, in company with Mr. E. N. Buxton, 

 one of the verderers of Epping Forest, in 

 successfully reintroducing to the Forest in 

 1884 this interesting and beautiful creature, 

 and we are thereby enabled to add this species 

 to the Essex list (see also Field, April 5, 1884, 

 pp. 487-8). In 1897 the Field further 

 reported that the roes were doing well, and 

 are supposed to number over twenty. 



In excavating the remains of a Roman 

 building at West Mersea, in 1897, bones and 

 antlers of the roe deer, were found, with 

 those of the sheep and the small Celtic ox. 



CETACEA 



I. Common Rorqual. Baleenoptera musculus, 

 Linn. (Baleenoptera physalis). 1 



There are numerous records of the capture 

 or of the stranding of this whale on various 



1 The names in brackets are those advocated by Dr. F. W. True, of the United States National Museum, 

 in his revision of the names of the European whalebone whales (Pne. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxi. 61735). 



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