THE FAUNA OF LINCOLNSHIRE. 257 



of gorse, and ancient thorns in clumps and single. It was a dis- 

 trict most admirably fitted to the habits of that noble bird the Great 

 Bustard, and the Stone Curlew, the former probably almost extinct 

 before the commencement of the century, the latter still holding its 

 own — a few pair nesting annually, though not now on the wold. 



The two distinct ranges of chalk and oolite which run from 

 south to north of the county form elevated tracts, which in their 

 original condition were heath and moorland, and almost destitute 

 of timber trees. Along the flanks of these hills and in the inter- 

 vening low country stretched the deep forests of Kesteven and 

 Lindsey, — the Bruneswald, — oak, ash, elm, beech, fir, holly, yew, 

 and hazel, sufficient remains existing in some of our oldest wood- 

 lands to recall the ancient glories of the land. No better "happy 

 hunting grounds" remain to reward the naturalist than these 

 comparatively undisturbed areas. Here in 1884 an example of 

 the old British Wild Cat {Felis catus) was taken,* and the Pine 

 Marten (Martes abietum) can scarcely yet be extinct ; bones of 

 Red Deer (Bos longifrons), Wolf, Wild Boar, and Beavers have 

 been found in the becks. We have as yet no list of Lincolnshire 

 mammals, and I shall be greatly indebted to any of our members 

 who will enable me to complete a list, which is already partially 

 prepared, with notes from their respective districts. 



The heath is another most charming faunal area, from the 

 fact that some few scattered portions are still in their primitive 

 condition, as in the neighbourhood of Woodhall Spa and the 

 warrens and commons of Scotton, Manton, Twigmoor, Crosby, 

 and Brumby in the north-east. The Ermin-street, that great 

 military highway of the Romans, which passed through the gates 

 of their chief fortress, Lincoln, followed the ridge of the oolite 

 from south to north — to east and west of this was a wide, open, 

 and continuous stretch of elevated tableland, the roads running 

 through leagues of purple heather where the pink and purple 

 shading of the common and cross-leaved heaths intermingled 

 with the yellow blooms of the petty whin and sheets of pale blue 

 harebell, and the darker blue gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) . A 

 glorious land it was to cross in those days, the long, lone, level line 

 of a well-kept war-path stretching like a ribbon over the heath, 

 and marked at short intervals with high stones or posts as a 



* See ' The Zoologist,' 1884, p. 380. 

 ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII. — JULY, 1894, X 



