A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Whitmoor are mostly found just over the 

 Surrey border, at the Land of Nod, in Hamp- 

 shire, where as many as thirteen were once 

 counted on the wing at one time when the 

 fox-hounds were drawing some small coverts 

 dotted about in the heath. 



Before game preserving was carried to its 

 present pitch a great many 'cock were killed 

 about the end of February and the beginning 

 of March, when they were mating. These 

 were shot by casual gunners, who would 

 place themselves in the roads at likely places 

 and, although the birds were only to be seen 

 for about twenty minutes ' between the 

 lights,' sometimes as many as three or four 

 would fall to one gun. It has been stated 

 that these late birds nested in this county, 

 but this is not the case ; woodcock are, as a 

 rule, plentiful in some parts of Surrey about 

 this time of the year, but a nest is of very 

 rare occurrence. At Nore Brook and Witley 

 Park nests have been found, and at the latter 

 place the birds are known to have hatched 

 and reared their young. 



On the rivers and some of the ponds there 

 are a few wild duck and teal ; but they are 

 not now as plentiful as formerly. At Peper- 

 harow and for some miles around there are 

 still a number of wild duck, which nest 

 chiefly in the long heath on the Thursley 

 and Elstead Commons. Sometimes in winter 

 considerable numbers of duck come to the 

 ponds from the coast ; but these are indifferent 

 eating until they have been inland for some 

 weeb. Wild duck do not often appear in 

 the bag in an ordinary day's shooting, but 

 by walking along the river it is not unusual to 

 get several duck and two or three brace of 

 snipe. By waiting in the evening at places 

 where they come to feed two or three couples 

 of duck can sometimes be shot. At a few 

 places they are reared by hand, but these, 

 as a rule, will not leave their native water, 

 and afford poor sport, flying round and round, 

 until shooting at them becomes monotonous. 



At Peperharow there still exists an old 

 decoy, but it is not now used. There is 

 very little marsh land in the county and 

 snipe are therefore rare ; they may, as already 

 said, be occasionally found near the rivers 

 and streams, especially in frosty weather. 



Both grouse and black game were intro- 

 duced into the county about seventy years 

 ago; but although the Surrey commons 

 appear to resemble the moors of the North 

 they do not furnish natural food for grouse, 

 and the imported birds very soon died out. 



Black game however remained for many 



years, and were to be found up to within 

 the last ten years, or later, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Thursley. Fifteen years ago it was 

 not at all unusual to find them on the com- 

 mons at Hindhead, Churt, Tilford and Thurs- 

 ley, and there is little doubt but that they 

 would have remained had they been fairly pre- 

 served ; they could be successfully reinstated 

 perhaps if properly looked after. Two guns 

 bagged three and a half brace of black game in 

 one day near Hindhead about fifteen years ago. 

 When once fully grown they become very 

 wild, and it was very difficult to get within 

 shot of them, but they suffered most when 

 barely fledged. The commons not being 

 well protected at that time, poachers knocked 

 the young birds on the head ; an easy matter, 

 even after they had become quite large. They 

 evidently either leave a very strong scent, or 

 their scent is similar to that of a fox, for the 

 foxhounds would always throw their tongue 

 merrily on the scent of a blackcock. In 

 former years it was a very common occurrence 

 to see hounds suddenly start off full cry for 

 about 100 or 200 yards, when a blackcock 

 got up and the run was over ! In later years, 

 when these birds had become very uncommon, 

 a huntsman who was new to the county would 

 never believe that his hounds were hunting 

 a blackcock though he might have seen the 

 bird rise just in front of them. 



In some seasons wood pigeons are very 

 plentiful and afford capital sport. In winter 

 they come for the acorns, when there is a 

 good crop, but soon travel on after having 

 cleared the country. If just the right 

 day be chosen, and decoys used, many 

 may be shot, but the ordinary sportsman 

 seldom troubles about them. After the 

 acorns are finished they sometimes turn their 

 attention to the young seeds or turnip greens, 

 and this as a rule is the best time to shoot 

 them ; several hundred may be killed at one 

 place if the gunner takes care not to show 

 himself more than he can help. Wood 

 pigeons breed very extensively in the county, 

 but the number of residents bears no pro- 

 portion to that of the visitors in winter. 

 Forty or fifty, mostly young birds, may often 

 be killed in the corn and pea fields on an 

 August afternoon. 



During recent years some birds, which 

 may be considered rare in the county, have 

 been noticed. Two quails and a sheldrake 

 were killed at Titsey in 1887. A curlew was 

 once flushed at Witley Park. The pochard, 

 pintail, and other species of duck sometimes 

 visit the lakes and large ponds in winter. 



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