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perfectly its particular needs have been met and how 

 entirely the ideal has been realised. 



Chas. T. Druery, F.L.S., V.M.H. 



THE MOTOR-CAR IN FERN-HUNTING. 



Although the coming of the motor-car into general use 

 will probably be eventually a factor in the denudation 

 of our ferny districts, both by the greater opportunities 

 offered for vandalism and the direct destruction of fern 

 habitats, by the improvement of roads, yet in the mean- 

 time the judicious use of this convenient method of 

 travelling may be of great value to fern hunters in the 

 exploration of districts hitherto difficult of access. It is 

 obvious that the actual hunting must be done on foot, 

 since no other method allows time for the careful exam- 

 ination of the ferns in a given area. The preliminary 

 selection of promising hunting grounds can, however, be 

 done with great advantage by means of a motor-car, 

 horse-carriage or bicycle. When the hunting grounds 

 have been selected they can be reached by any means 

 which may be found most convenient. When the profit- 

 able ground is some miles away from one's base there 

 is nothing like a motor-car for reaching it quickly and 

 avoiding the waste of time involved in tramping over 

 barren roads. In my own district there is no fern 

 country less than eight or ten miles from home, and the 

 nearest really profitable ground is some twenty miles 

 away in a district badly served by railway. The twenty 

 odd miles can be easily covered in an hour or (let it be 

 whispered only) even in less time, and thus several 

 hours of happy hunting can be got in the course of half- 

 a-day's holiday, which is the most that can often be 

 spared from the cares of life by a busy man. Some of 

 the best hunting I have had was during a "long week" 

 in Somerset (before the war), when a motor-car was 

 available to carry us out to a suitable district in the 



