260 NATUBE AND WOODCRAFT. 



raneous with Bears, Wolves, Wild Boars, and 

 vast herds of Red and Fallow Deer. 



At this distance of time it is difficult to realize 

 the physical conformation of the country when 

 there roamed over it the animals just enumerated. 

 The forests flanked the mountain ranges, 

 stretching sometimes to their summits. Many 

 of these were impenetrable ; and especially 

 does this refer to the tangled woods of the 

 valleys. The chases, the forests of which 

 they formed part, the swamps and fenlands — 

 these occupied more than three-fourths of the 

 country. As invasion set in from the south, 

 the feroe naturae retired northwards, seeking 

 the wildest and densest security. And although 

 the wild cattle for a time found shelter in the 

 dark recesses of the great Caledonian forest, 

 this was only for a time. 



As they saw the native fauna fast disappear- 

 ing, those to whom the king had granted tracts 

 of forest bestirred themselves to preserve its 

 mightiest members. These were the forest 

 bulls (Tauri sylvestres, it is written), which 

 were driven into paled or walled parks ; and 

 in this way many a country 'Squire preserved 

 to his descendants direct produce of this once 



