FORSET OF WOLMER GAME. 19 



shown pieces of fossil-wood, of a paler colour, and 

 softer nature, which the inhabitants called fir ; 

 but, upon a nice examination, and trial by fire, I 

 could discover nothing resinous in them ; and 

 therefore rather suppose that they were parts of a 

 willow or alder, or some such aquatic tree 1 . 



This lonely domain is a very agreeable haunt for 

 many sorts of wild fowls, which not only frequent 

 it in the winter, but breed there in the summer ; 

 such as lapwings, snipes, wild ducks, and, as I 

 have discovered within these few years, teals. 

 Partridges in vast plenty are bred in good seasons 

 on the verge of this forest, into which they love to 

 make excursions ; and in particular, in the dry 

 summer of 1740 and 1741, and some years after, 

 they swarmed to such a degree, that parties of 

 unreasonable sportsmen killed twenty and some- 

 times thirty brace in a day. 



But there was a nobler species of game in this 

 forest, now extinct, which I have heard old people 

 say abounded much before shooting flying became 

 so common, and that was the heath-cock, or black 

 game. When I was a little boy, I recollect one 



to domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old obli- 

 terated drains and wells about houses ; and, in Roman 

 stations and camps, lead to the finding of pavements, 

 baths, and graves, and other hidden relics of curious an- 

 tiquity ? 



1 The remains of trees are found in most of the marshes 

 in Great Britain ; but the mosses in the north of England, 

 all those of Scotland, and the bogs of Ireland, contain trees 

 often of immense size. These are generally oak, birch, 

 different willows, or alder, and the Scotch fir, pinus sylvestris. 

 Being imbedded to considerable depths, they are sometimes 

 in a perfect state, and completely saturated with the soil in 

 which they lie. In the Highlands the Scotch fir abounds, 

 and retains so much resin as to be used for lights during 

 winter, for which purpose it is dug out, dried, and split into 

 narrow lengths. W. J, 



c 2 



