20 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER VIII. 



TO THE SAME. 







ON the verge of the forest, as it is now circumscribed, are three 

 considerable lakes, two in Oakhanger, of which I have nothing 

 particular to say ; and one called Bin's, or Bean's Pond, which is 

 worthy the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman. For, being 

 crowded at the upper end with willows, and with the carex cespitosa,* 

 it affords such a safe and pleasing shelter to wild ducks, teals, 

 snipes, &c., that they breed there. In the winter this covert is 

 also frequented by foxes, and sometimes by pheasants ; and the bogs 

 produce many curious plants. (For which consult Letter XLI. to 

 Mr. Barrington.) t 



By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the Holt, made in 

 1635, and the eleventh year of Charles the First (which now lies 

 before me), it appears that the limits of the former are much circum- 

 scribed. For, to say nothing of the farther side, with which I am not 

 so well acquainted, the bounds on this side, in old times, came into 

 Binswood; and extended to the ditch of Ward le Ham Park, in 

 which stands the curious mount called King John's Hill, and Lodge 

 Hill ; and to the verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit Hatch ; 

 comprehending also Short Heath, Oakhanger, and Oakwoods ; a large 

 district, now private property, though once belonging to the royal 

 domain. 



It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once mentioned in 

 this long roll of parchment. It contains, besides the perambulation, 

 a rough estimate of the value of the timbers, which were consider- 

 able, growing at that time in the district of the Holt ; and enumerates 

 the officers, superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time 

 being, and their ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at 

 present, there were hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest. 



Within the present limits of the forest are three considerable lakes, 

 Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer ; all of which are stocked with carp, 



* I mean that sort which, rising into tall hassocks, is called by the foresters 

 torrets ; a corruption, I suppose, of turrets. 



NOTK. In the beginning of the summer 1787, the royal forests of Wolmer and 

 Holt were measured by persons sent down by government. 



t Here is one of those records so useful in a local history. We learn from 

 Mr. Bern let's edition, that Bin's Pond has been drained, and that cattle now graze 

 upon its bed. The character of the place, so correctly yet simply described in 

 this letter, has thus been completely altered, and we see improvement working 

 out the changes alluded to in the note to p. 15. It would be in vain now to look 

 for the plants, or for the water-fowl that found there a "pleasing shelter." The 

 hassocks of carex alluded to, form a very marked feature in such a place ; they are 

 most uncomfortable to walk among, and form a complete cover and shelter to 

 various animals and birds. From age and successive growths, they form high 

 " toirets" with a solid base. The foliage hangs down, and a covered way is formed 

 underneath, where young water-fowl, water rails, &c., can run and escape 

 detection for a long time, even from a dog. 



