THE FOREST OF EXMOOR. ti 



SO large, and the solitude, but for an occasional shep- 

 herd or the stag-hunting field, so complete, that 

 Exmoor is still a vast wild tract, little more civilised 

 than before. Around it Brendon Common is still 

 unenclosed, and the miles from Alderman's Barrow to 

 the east of Dunkery unbroken by a fence. There are 

 still rare birds and beasts to be seen there ; first and 

 foremost the red deer, which have had a home in 

 Exmoor from time immemorial ; polecats are also 

 found, though now more rarely ; the Montagu's 

 harrier* is occasionally seen ; a snowy owl was shot 

 some few years back, and only two years ago a pelican 

 was found walking about on the North Forest, f 



Exmoor Forest knows no heather. The Forest 

 wall seems to be the arbitrary boundary between 

 heather and grass ; why, is not very clear. Mr. Knight 

 maintains that originally all the uncultivated districts 

 of West Somerset and North Devon were moorlands 

 of rough grass, and that the Forest has alone preserved 

 this feature because, being Crown property, it was 

 left untilled ; further, that efforts were made in the 



* Cireus Cineraceus. 



t This bird had probably escaped from confinement, but his 

 owner could never be found. Bewick gives the pehcan as a rare 

 visitor. The natives attributed his presence to the cannonading at 

 Tel-el-Kebir ! 



