EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The interest -wliicli attaches to the history of 

 extinct British animals can only be equalled by the 

 regret which must be felt, by aU true naturalists, at 

 their disappearance beyond recall from our fauna. 



It is a curious reflection at the present day, as we 

 pass over some of the wilder parts of the country, 

 that at one time these same moors and woods and 

 glens, which we now traverse so securely, were 

 infested to such an extent with ferocious animals, 

 that a journey of any length was, on this account, 

 attended . with considerable danger. Packs of 

 wolves, which usually issued forth at night to 

 ravage the herdsman's flocks, were ever ready to 

 attack the solitary herdsman, or unwary traveller on 

 foot, who might venture to pass within reach of their 

 hiding-places. In the oak woods and amongst the 

 reed-beds which fringed the meres, wild-boars 

 lurked whUe munching their store of acorns, or 

 wallowing, as is their wont, in lacustrine mire, while 

 they searched for the palatable roots of aquatic 



B 



