The Zoologist— December, 18G7. 1001 



Discovery of Red Deer-horns and other Animal Remains, in the 

 Bed of the River Ribble ; with some Account of the Ancient 

 Denizens of the Forests of Blackhurnshire and Dowland. By 

 Captain H. W. Feilden. 



In the year 1865, when certain improvements were going on for 

 deepening the bed of the River Ribble, below the town of Preston, the 

 dredgers came upon a horn and bone bed. Mixed with the soft mud 

 of the river the dredging-raachine brought to light great quantities of 

 antlers and skulls of the red deer, massive frontal and other bones of 

 wild cattle or bubali, enormous skulls and jaws of wild boars, goats, 

 and along with them two human skulls. 



All these remains were more or less injured by the dredging- 

 machine ; no antler was brought to the surface in a perfect condition, 

 though many pieces remained two and three feet long. These frag- 

 ments were in such quantities that a friend of mine sent a cart and 

 two men to the spot, and in a day they collected nearly a load. Not 

 unfrequently fine and perfect heads of red deer are dragged from the 

 bed of the Ribble by the salmon net-fishers, and there is now at 

 Feniscowles Hall, near Blackburn, a magnificent head with fourteen 

 points and of great weight and thickness, taken out of the Ribble a few 

 years ago. Its condition is as perfect as if it had just come from a deer 

 park, the only sign of age being the rich black colour the horns are 

 stained from immersion. 



Why or wherefore this immense collection of animal remains should 

 have occurred at this one spot, I cannot explain satisfactorily; it may 

 have been the meeting point of the tidal and river waters, or else the 

 configuration of the river bed and banks may have caused a great eddy 

 at this point, or it may have been the result of one great flood. 



Until comparatively late periods the country in which the Ribble 

 and its tributaries rise and flow was a great forest ; the names of Bow- 

 land and Pendle Forests still linger, but the anllered herds are gone. 

 The last herd of wild red deer in Bowland Forest was destroyed in 

 1805. The wild cattle that used to be kept in Gisburne Park are now 

 extinct ; the herd had gradually dwindled, and, as there was no chance 

 of the breed being perpetuated, the two or three remaining were 

 slaughtered about seven years ago. I believe an experiment was tried 

 of crossing them with tame cattle, but this only prolonged the breed 

 for one generation, the mixed breed being barren. 



second series— vol. ii. 3 p 



