CONCLUSION. 



In considering the causes, besides those already- 

 referred to, which have led to the extinction of 

 the wild animals now under consideration, it should 

 be borne in mind that for some centuries after 

 the Norman Conquest they were not hunted down 

 and destroyed by everybody and anybody, as 

 they would be if they existed at the present 

 day, but were strictly preserved under very severe 

 penalties by the kings and powerful noblemen of 

 the day for their own particular sport and recreation. 

 "William the Conqueror punished with the loss of 

 eyes those convicted of killing a wild boar, stag, or 

 roebuck ; and wolves and foxes, although reckoned 

 neither as beasts of the forest nor of venery, could 

 not be killed within the limits of the forest without 

 a breach of the royal chase, for which offenders had 

 to yield a recompense. 



The inveterate love of the chase possessed by 

 "William Rufus, which prompted him to enforce during 

 his tragical reign the most stringent and cruel forest 

 laws, is too well-known to readers of history to require 

 comment. 



