THE NEW FOREST DEER 83 



him in his duties. At the end of the two years, 

 the Act had been carried out as far as was possible 

 in a wild densely wooded country like the New 

 Forest. 



But it was impossible to carry out the provi- 

 sions of the Act down to the very last deer, or 

 to know for certain whether or no a few of the 

 fugitives were left in various parts of the thick 

 coverts up and down the Forest. Probably a 

 few did survive. But it was overlooked by those 

 who drafted the Act that in many parts of the 

 Forest it is bounded by thick woods, the property 

 of private landowners. The hotter the pursuit 

 in the Forest grew, the more the deer sought 

 refuge in these woods. In some they were 

 killed just as they were in the Forest. But in 

 others they met with more hospitable treatment, 

 and as the Deer Removal Act grew to be more 

 disliked, the deer that remained were viewed 

 with more kindly eyes. People forgot the 

 damage they had done, and thought with regret 

 of the palmy days of the Forest, with its herds 

 of deer constituting one of its most attractive 

 features. In these circumstances the remnant 

 of the herd found sanctuary outside the bounds 

 of the Forest, and so the ancient stock of wild 

 deer, dating back to the days of the Romans, 

 never became really extinct in the district. 



